Space Jam Revisioned
by Empress Oriana
Summary: Instead of NBA All-Star Michael Jordan playing for the Tunes, not one, but two unlikely kids get sucked into the craziness of it all. Will Hikari Rodgers, with the help of her older brother Hale, be able to pull off this epic basketball game and save the Tunes, or get slam-dunked themselves? R&R.
1. Ch 1 So it has begun

**Well, I do feel like a jerk. Reason? For not posting any new updates or fanfictions in over a year. I finally graduated with my associates in early May, so that's one step down for my life work to begin. :3**

**I officially want to thank my loyal readers who took their time to read and review my fics. I truly appreciate it and so, I thank you.**

**Here's something new I would like to introduce, involving Space Jam, one of my all-time favorites.**

**Enjoy! **

* * *

_Everyday for as long as I can recall, life has been completely and utterly normal. How would you describe normal? Well, heh...I guess you can say as normal as any person can be. My name is Hikari Rodgers, but everyone calls me "Kari", for short. I have auburn, almost orange red hair and hazelnut eyes. I'm somewhat tomboy/girlie with a short temper to boot, but still a sweetheart nonetheless. My whole life has been completely normal up until I was about 10 years old. Then all that I have known and my existence itself, has changed. I have changed drastically, but that can come later.. You see, six years ago to this day, was when I came up to the point of no return. Who would have guessed? Me! Ten years old, nothing better to do, and then what..? And to think, I only wanted to go see basketball game. Still don't know what I'm talking about? Okay._

_Here we go..._

**6 Years Prior (age 10)..:**

"Kari? Honey, are you up yet?"

"We're gonna be late! Hurry up so we can eat breakfast then leave for the game! Now where are my keys and wallet...?"

_'Ugh. Okay. Time to get up.'_ I yawned and stretched out my arms and legs beneath my bed covers. Probably should have went to bed early instead of jumping around excited for the basketball game...

"Oh CRUD!", I screamed. _'That's right! Today's the day I go with my folks for the basketball game starting tonight!'_

I jumped out of bed and ran to my closet. I threw out a pair of roll up boot cut jeans, yellow top, and my black high tops. I grabbed a pair of ankle socks from my drawer and got out of my night clothes. _'I have a ways to go for a bra... dang!'_

I finished putting on my clothes and brushed my barely shoulder length hair, making the ends flip upwards. It pays to be quarter Japanese from my mom's side of the family. I grabbed my camera, GameBoy COLOR, some bubble gum I bought from the store with some allowance, and my pink sports pack. I ran down the stairs and into the kitchen, greeting my parents as we all sat down to eat breakfast.

"Good morning mom. Good morning dad."

They smiled brightly at me. "Good morning, Kari."

"Hey there kiddo! Your mom made your favorite this morning."

She placed a plate filled with scrambled eggs, bacon, two biscuits, and a couple of pancakes along with a glass of orange juice.

Dad looked over at me and raised a brow.

"Where's your brother?"

_'Since when did I become his keeper? Last time I checked, he made me take out the garbage when it was his turn.'_

"I dunno. I thought he'd be up by now", I said in between mouthfuls of egg. My mom scolded me. "Don't talk with your mouth full, Kari."

Right on cue, my older brother walked into the kitchen, fully dressed and ready. I swore I could have chocked on my egg right there.

_'Since when was HE the ready one of the two?'_

My brother is two years my senior. He is pretty tough and can be quite a selfish jerk at times, but he's the best brother I could ever ask for. His hair color is slightly lighter than mine, but we have the same eye color. Despite the age difference, a lot of people think we're twins, and frankly, I don't blame them.

We do sorta look alike. We even think alike! Many times that I got picked on, he would beat the living tar out of anybody who bullied me. He may seem like a bully himself, but deep down, he does it to protect me... but I guess he can take it a little too far.

"Hey mom. Hey dad." He yawned a long and loud yawn.

"Morning to you too, sport."

"Good morning Hale."

Hale took his seat next to me and glanced over at me. "Midget."

_'Midget? You're no prize yourself, Napoleon. We ARE about the same height..'_

"Alright you two, finish your breakfast so we can head off to the game."

"That's right."

My brother munched on a slice of toast. "Alright. Hey, it's a real shame that Michael Jordan retired this early in the season. Lucky we live close to him though."

"Hale, we live in the town NEXT to where he lives. Get a geography check, why don't cha?" He made a face at me and I made one back. Flying to New York for the weekend is gonna be something else...

OoOoOoO

Arriving to the airport wasn't a challenge. It was the flight itself that was a challenge. Trust me, motion sickness and I have been ruthless enemies since I was three, and it almost won this epic fight of trying not to upchuck upon my brother. He didn't look too happy about it either, but he had the same problem so no room to talk there.

After arriving at the New York terminal, we took a taxi to our Aunt Jackie's house. For my dad's sister, she's pretty cool. Doesn't mind about our occasional visits and is totally up for anything involving basketball, croquet, and wild parties involving Mexican pinatas and possible skinny dipping, although the latter ended up having her get questioned by the police thanks to neighbors and her pet Irish Terrier got drunk on some Jack Daniels. Never again.

Once we dropped our luggage off in our guest bedrooms, we all got into her car and headed off to the basketball stadium. However, when we got there, there were ambulances parked by the entrances and going in them were players Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing.

"The hell..?", my brother mumbled. _'My thoughts exactly..'_

Aunt Jackie rolled down her window, "Whats going on here?"

"Are those two alright? Did we come at a wrong time?", my mother asked with concern. Dad got out of the SUV and walked to one of the paramedics tending to the players.

"What happened here?"

"We were called here by their coaches. Something about them acting weird and it all happened at the same time."

"Whoa. Well, that's a first. I guess we'll just go in then."

"Alright, sir.", the paramedic bid him good bye as they got ready to drive the players to the nearest hospital.

My brother looked over at me with a raised brow as our dad got into that car. I mouthed the words I don't know, knowing what he was asking.

The rest of the night and the rest of the game kinda sucked. As we got in the stadium and took our front row seats (dad's the president of a television broadcasting company, so yay), we watched the remainder of the game without two of the best NBA players around. Our parents and aunt were so into the game, they didn't notice a weird guy in a dark overcoat with scarves and a hat covering his countenance walking past us. Or should I say staggering, seeing as how he wobbled a lot.

My brother and I were the only ones who took note of how bizarre the stranger looked. We took a glance at one another and nodded our heads.

"Hey dad, Kari says she needs to go to the bathroom. I'll go with her and grab some sodas on our way back."

"Alright, but why not let me call the snack attendee for some refreshments?"

"Nah, the drinks might be too hot cause the ice might have already melted. I got some money with me, so we'll be back."

Dad called to our backs as we headed off to the same direction as the overly bundled stranger, "Hale! Let me know how much the sodas are so I can pay you back! Get some for the three of us too! Two diet cokes and a Minute Maid!"

"Alright!", Hale hollered. As soon as we got out of the stands and into the main hall, we jolted down the corridor that led to the back of the entire stadium.

"Good call, Hale. 'Kari has to go to the bathroom'. Couldn't be more subtle, right?", I mocked him.

He retorted, "Look, it was all I could come up with at the moment. Don't be such a baby. Besides, we gotta find out where that weirdo went."

"Yeah, he looked suspicious enough. Can't believe everyone is so oblivious to his looks and movements!"

Hale rolled his eyes, "They're more interested in the game, Kari. Not like they care about a fashion victim like..."

My brother was cut off as we both jumped at the sound of something crashing down in the hall.

"Over there!", he yelled as he took off sprinting. Hale's a pretty fast runner and that always got our dad nagging him to join for the track team when he's in high school, even if its years away. I sprinted off after him, catching up to him pretty darn quick.

If it was an official race between us, I would have won. He may be fast, but I'm faster.

We skidded to a halt as we found the garbage bid toppled onto the floor, some paper wads scattered next to it. We heard some moaning from the left of the bin and what we saw shocked us both.

Well, we found the weird guy, but as it turns out, it wasn't a guy. More like _little guys_. No, not even that.

_Little bug like aliens_!

I brushed my bangs out of my eyes while my brother rubbed his to make sure he wasn't just seeing things.

Nope. We weren't. They were still there.

"Ugh. You idiots! Watch where you're walking!", the chubby orange one shouted.

"Sorry.", the other ones said in unison.

_'They talk too? Well, now I've seen AND heard it all... I hope this isn't a vice..'_, I thought to myself.

"Dude, they talk!", Hale exclaimed.

"Nah, really Holmes? Couldn't be.", I mocked. What a brother.

The blue skinny one looked over and pointed at us, "Hey. Those kids, like, totally caught up to us."

All of them turned their attention to us, the red and purple ones looking like their panicking, while the green and orange ones looked like they were on the verge of cutting our throats.

For five small aliens, they seem harmless.

"Alright, kiddies. Listen up! You saw nothing, you hear? Now get going back to your parents!", the orange one snarled.

"Says who, you overgrown meatball?", my brother countered. Clearly he isn't scared, and neither was I.

"Says us! Now get a move on!", the green one retorted. I looked to the blue one and caught sight of something in his hands.

_'A basketball..?'_

"Let's go! Quick!", the purple one exclaimed. The aliens somehow transformed their bodies into plasma like goo and slithered off.

"Hey! Come back here!", my brother shouted and ran after them. I ran after my brother.

"Kari! Go after those two! I'll handle these guys!" Hale sprinted after the green, orange, and purple one who slithered to the left of the hall and under the exit doors.

"Careful, Hale!" I ran after the blue and red ones who slithered under the janitors closet door. I tried to open the door, but to no avail. Then I had an idea. I took out one of my bobby pins out of my hair and tried to pick the lock. Worked like a charm.

Slowly, I proceeded into the room. It was kinda dark and musty, so I felt around for a light switch. Finding the switch, I flipped the light on, spotting the two aliens on the shelf above me.

"She found us!", the red one piped up.

"Let's go, dude!", the blue one jumped off and ricochet off a box sitting adjacent from the shelf. The red one jumped after, but got his foot caught onto a utility cord and fell off the shelf. The box above him where the blue one jumped from, started to tilt over and was about to fall and crush the little guy!

"CRUD!", I cried out. Out of instinct and with no second thoughts, I grabbed the little red alien from the floor as the box came down with a heavy, very loud thud. Inside the box were a couple of weights and dumbbells.

I fell back and landed on my bum, holding on to the little guy for dear life. He could have been killed!

"Are you okay?", a small voice piped up from my arms. I looked down and saw the little red alien's face looking up at me, showing a tiny bit of concern.

"Me? I think I should be asking that to you! You were the one who almost got squashed like a bug!"

He glanced down at his feet, shuffling them a bit shamefully, "I got my foot caught", he looked up at me again, this time his face filled with awe, "YOU saved my life!"

_'Jiminy Cricket, now I'm this guy's savior...Could this day get any weirder?'_

I seemed to be lost in thought cause then he started waving his tiny hand in front of my face.

"Huh? What?", I looked down at him, a tiny, almost shy smile graced his features.

"I wanted to say thank you. You saved me from those weights! You're a nice and cute girl."

What happened next kinda scared me, yet was kinda heartwarming. The little red alien jumped out of my hands and gave me a hug, as big as he could muster.

"I gotta go now. But thank you again! I am in your debt!", he pecked me on the cheek and suddenly materialized into goo again and slithered off towards the exit on the other side of the hall, disappearing out of sight.

If there was a train somewhere in the world right now running on high speed, it would have crashed at that moment. Technically, I got kissed on the cheek by an alien. AN ALIEN!

As if on cue, my brother showed up out of the blue. _'Where did YOU come from?'_

"Kari! Are you okay? I heard a loud noise and came back and... what happened here?"

I noticed he was looking up at the mess. "I tried to catch them, but they were too fast.", I quickly answered. He seemed to have bought it.

"You didn't get hurt, did you?", he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't be such a worry wort, Hale. You're starting to sound like dad."

He scoffed. "Hey, it's my job to look out for you!"

He helped me up to my feet. I locked the janitor door and closed it. Hopefully, they won't notice.

I looked over to my brother. "So, did you get any luck?"

"Nope. They got away. I went as far as the parking lot but then they split up."

I shook my head. "Let's get going back. Mom and dad will wonder how long we're taking."

"Right, and let's get the drinks while we're at it. Dad looked like he was gonna cough out dust."

As we walked back to the last moments of the game, with drinks in hand, we noticed from where we got out to the end of the hall that wee went to that the little red lights on the security cameras were off.

_'Saves us the trouble of getting into trouble, but it also means there's no real proof to show that aliens were here...'_

The game was finally over and we all went out into the parking lot and started getting into my aunt's SUV.

"Good game, eh? Too bad you kids missed some of it. Guess you had to go really bad, huh, Kari?", my dad teased.

"Dad! I couldn't help it!", I lied. There's no way we could tell them we saw aliens. They'd flip!

So me and Hale swore to keep this between us until we could figure out if this was all a dream or not.

As we were about to leave, I took one last look at the stadium before we drove off to Aunt Jackie's house.

_'If a train did crash, it was in Zimbabwe... For sure.'_


	2. Ch 2 Promises, Tunes, and Monstars

**Chapter 2 is here. I own nothing, not the Monstars (weep), The Looney Tunes, nor Michael Jordan (that would be slavery. I frown upon that...)**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

I laid on my bed back home. We left Sunday afternoon from New York and thankfully its summer vacation.

Staring at the ceiling, I recalled the conversation my brother and I had the very same night we had the alien encounter.

_Flashback:_

"_Kari. Come here for a sec."_

_My brother and I share a room together in my aunts house, and our beds are across one another._

"_Yeah? Wassup?" He motioned me closer. I leaned in as he looked around to make sure no one else was listening in._

"_We can't tell anyone what happened during the game, got it?"_

_I rolled my eyes. "Sure Einstein. I know that already. Is that all?"_

_He shook his head. "No. Now tell me, do you think it was all a dream we just had?"_

"_Course not." That landing on my butt still is sore, and that's a good enough wake up call for me._

_He nodded. "Yeah, me neither. We gotta find out what those guys were doing over there."_

"_But Hale, we leave back home in two days. There's no way we can go back to the stadium, and besides, we have Saturday and Sunday morning jammed with stuff to do."_

"_We'll work something out. There must be something going on between the aliens and what happened to those two players. Maybe they poisoned them.."_

_I looked at him like he was nuts, but he did have a point. We did see the whole thing ourselves._

_I sighed in defeat and smiled at my bro. _

"_Fine. But we do this together, and no matter what, none of us back down okay?"_

_He smirked and stuck his hand out for a handshake. "Deal."_

_I took his hand in mine and shook it. "Deal."_

_End Flashback_

I sighed as I sat up on my fleur décor bedspread. _'But we couldn't find them, no matter how hard me and Hale tried.'_

I got up and walked out of my room towards his. There, I found Hale tossing a soccer ball up and down in the air while laying on his bed. He looked like he was in deep thought.

"Hey Hale. You okay?"

He snapped out of his reverie and glanced over at me. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just.. We haven't found where those things went. I dunno."

_' I know what you mean, big bro. Trust me, I know it's irritating.'_

"And in addition, the three other players that were on the news aside from Ewing and Barkley. They got the same problem too."

Yeah. The news broadcast them saying they're on suspension from playing until further notice. Talk about weird.

"Well, hey. Why don't we go play some golf tomorrow? You know, some hole in ones and such? We could walk there and I'll pay for both of us to play!"

Hale sat up and gawked at me. "Since when did YOU play golf?"

I shrugged. "Just thinking we could spend some sibling quality time. At least it will take our minds off of that alien crud."

He tilted his head up towards the ceiling for a moment in brief thought then looked at me and smiled.

"Sure. But let's ask mom and dad for some cash. We're still kids, you know. Advantage of youth."

I laughed. "Stooge. Fine, at least I made you smile."

He shook his head, "You always make me smile, Kari. Just don't tell anyone or else!" He gave a sinister grin.

I laughed even harder. He almost looked like the Grinch with that grin of his. "Alright, alright!"

Hale placed his soccer ball down and got up from his bed. He stretched then walked towards me. "Let's go get some ice cream."

I gaped at him wildly, "Before dinner? You know mom will have our heads if we have dessert before dinner."

He scoffed. "Since when did you become a rule follower? As far as you're concerned, you break rules as much as I do."

I gave him a sly smile. "True that, my good sir." We laughed as we darted down the stairs to get some frozen dairy goodness.

* * *

At the same moment back in Looney Tune Land, Bugs Bunny and the rest of the Looney Tunes were about to begin practicing for a basketball game. Their opponents?

The same aliens that the Rodgers siblings encountered, known as the Nerdlucks.

They came from a small rock called Moron Mountain, an amusement park that is run by their boss, Mr. Swackhammer. As an order from their boss, they flew down to Earth to kidnap the Looney Tunes and force them into slavery for the rest of their cartoon lives and entertain the customers of Moron Mountain.

Bugs and the other Tunes decided to hold a basketball tournament, so they can stay free and not leave their home.

Porky Pig came to Bugs and stammered, "H-hey Bugs. N-nice clothes, D-Daffy. T-the little aliens said it's th-their turn to use th-the court."

The Nerdlucks: Pound the orange one, Bang being the green one, Blanko the blue one, Bupkus purple, and Nawt as the small red one, were apparently 'working out', but failed miserably.

Bugs chuckled, "Eh, sure. Let the little pipsqueaks knock themselves out."

Daffy Duck smirked, "Too bad you can't practice getting taller, boys!"

As the Tunes turned to leave, laughing at the Nerdlucks failed attempts, Bang and Pound both grinned evilly, as they brought a duffle bag as the rest of the Nerdlucks gathered around.

They opened up the bag and touched the basketball they had from earlier, which was now glowing. Inside the ball were the talents of the NBA players.

As the sky darkened, they touched the ball and started to feel funny. Bugs and the others turned around and saw what happened.

The Nerdlucks began to transform, growing much taller and muscular than their previous smaller states.

They looked like their NBA counterparts from which they stole their talent from, only more sinister and almost demonic looking.

As the transformation came to an end, the now giant aliens towered and grinned over the now tiny Looney Tunes, who were shaking with fear.

Just then, Blanko leaned over to Porky and sneered, "Hey, little pig. Boo."

Porky shrieked, looked down, and stammered, "I j-just wet myself."

They mocked him, while Bang grabbed the basketball and said, "Time to play a little basketball."

He threw the basketball to the ground, causing an earthquake that surrounded the Looney Tunes.

Daffy exclaimed, "Those little pipsqueaks just turned into superstars!"

Porky stammered, "Th-they're m-monsters!"

Sylvester pointed out, "Thufferin' thuccotash! They're Monstars!"

The now entitled "Monstars" jogged away, while Bang popped the basketball between his fingers like a balloon.

Bupkus turned around and smirked, "Bye-bye."

After the Monstars made their exit, Bugs calmly and casually munched on a carrot "Eh, I think we might need a little bit of help."

* * *

After the Monstars left the Looney Tunes in a chaotic state, they all rammed into a run down warehouse, which stored a large quantity of ACME boxes, but still left plenty of space for them.

Pound chortled loudly, "Did you see the looks on those losers faces?"

Bang snorted, "Priceless! This game is in the bag now!"

"Yeah, those Tunes won't know what hit 'em!", laughed Bupkus as he took a seat on one of the larger ACME crates.

The three kept laughing menacingly about their brilliant plan going in their favor.

Blanko smirked but the smirk faded as he looked over at Nawt, who was on the other side of the warehouse, looking out at the full moon thoughtfully.

"Hey, Nawt. What's wrong?"

The red alien turned his head towards his blue comrade and sighed.

"Nothing, Blanko. Just thinkin'."

"Thinkin' about what? Come on, you can tell me."

Nawt glanced at him. "No way Jose! You'll just laugh and tell the others and make fun of me!"

Blanko wasn't exactly bright, but he wasn't a real idiot either. "I won't tell. I swear, and I won't laugh... wait. Is it about what happened three days ago?"

Nawt just stood there, still looking at the moon. He exhaled heavily, "Yeah. When that girl was chasing after us. I can't get her out of my mind."

Blanko was caught off guard. _'This I gotta hear...'_

"So what happened? Now that I think about it, you did take a while to get out. Did she catch ya?"

Nawt shook his head. "I was about to get out too.. but I got caught by a cord and the box you jumped off of almost fell on me. It was full of weights."

Blanko's eyes widened at this, but remained silent. "Go on..."

Nawt took a deep breath and slowly let it out, "Well, that girl saved me. She took a risk and pulled me out of there and got out before that box hit us both. She was really brave and... Blanko, no one ever did something like that for me. Ever."

Blanko swore his brain popped like a balloon right then and there. "Whoa... she _saved_ you?"

Nawt nodded his head. "Yep. She did. I'm in her debt, Blanko. I owe that girl _my life_."

A moment of silence passed between the two. Finally, Blanko spoke, "I won't tell the others. Knowing them, especially Pound, he'll just probably wanna hurt her... and the other kid too."

Nawt turned around and smiled in relief. "Thanks Blanko. I appreciate it."

The skinny blue giant grinned back. "Anytime, bud. Let's go over to the others before they catch on and get nosy."

"Agreed."

The two Monstars walked over to the end of the warehouse where the larger three were, but not before Nawt took one last look at the bright full moon, his thoughts trailing back one last time to the small girl and that fateful night.


	3. Ch 3 Bottoms Up and Going Down

**Chapter 3.**

**I have no legal rights to Warner Brothers, the Monstars, or the NBA. I only own my imagination and the Rodgers siblings. **

**Thanks to MonstarzGirl for reviewing and making this story one of her favorites! :D**

**You rawk my sawks!**

* * *

It was now Tuesday and today was the day my brother and I were going to go play some mini golf. Our dad talked us into mini golf, saying it'd be more suited for kids our age, that and actual golf is somewhat expensive and we would have needed supervision. That's dad for you. Reasonable yet can be cheap when he wants to be.

So I got up and dressed up in a pair of jean shorts that went up to my mid thigh, a pink and magenta stripped tank top, and my pair of baby blue and white sketchers. Hale wore a pair of khaki shorts with pockets on the sides, his black Nike shirt, and of course his pair of white Nike sneakers to top off his look. With his natural spiky hair, my brother looked pretty cool.

As we went downstairs and ate our breakfast, dad gave Hale some money for at least four rounds of mini golf, some snacks and lunch, and a little extra in case of emergencies. Good thing our dad and the owner of the mini golf course are good friends, cause the emergency money might not be needed.

"Okay, so what time are you two coming home?", our dad asked us.

Hale pondered a bit before responding. "Around five or six. We'll be home before dinner, that's for sure."

"That late? You sure you kids don't want me to pick you up when I get out of work?"

"Nah. We'll be fine, dad. The mini golf course isn't that far, and besides we're pretty fast runners. We'll be home before you.", I assured him. Hale placed the money in one of his pockets and zipped it up.

Dad looked at us both then sighed in defeat. "Alright, but I better find you guys home before me, or we're going to have some trouble."

"We know!", we both said in unison as we made our way to the door and out into the sidewalk. From there, we started to jog our way to the mini golf course that was a good four and a half miles from home.

* * *

After passing what we both knew was a good three miles, we started walking.

"Hey bro, can I ask you something?"

Hale took deep and steady breaths but listened. "Yeah? Shoot."

I gasped for some air then asked him, "What do you think is going to happen to the NBA now? With those guys out of commission, the NBA will have to find new players."

Hale glanced over at me with a knowing look. _'You know what I mean, bro. After all, we read each others minds almost all the time.'_

Hale then looked ahead of him, the both of us still walking. "I dunno. Yeah, it does seem that way, but let's not give up hope, Kari. Besides, if they don't have any players then they will probably end up canceling basketball this season."

_'Just as I feared. They can't cancel basketball! It'll crush both me and my brother!'_

"Yeah. We can't give up hope."

Hale looked at me with surprise, like I swallowed a goose egg then the goose hatched out through my ear or something.

He then smiled. "Come on, Kari. Let's get to that golf course before daylight runs out!"

I laughed, "Okay!"

_'Even though we have plenty of daylight to spare.'_

We ran the last bit very quickly and made it to the mini golf park. Hale paid our fee and we both got our golf clubs and matching golf balls. He chose red and I chose light blue. We got into the park and began playing on the first hole.

We played through the first course fairly quick, so we played it again the second time for hole in one shots.

At the sixth hole, it was a bit more vast and more opened space, which we thought made it more easier to putt. As I swung and hit the ball, it flew then landed, rolling right into the hole!

"Alright! I did it! I got a hole in one!", I cried gleefully.

Hale patted my shoulder and grinned. "Kudos, sis! Let's go grab that ball and get to the next one."

We both walked our way over to the hole, the little ball sitting right in the bottom of the cup.

As I knelt down to get the ball, I stopped. _'I got a weird feeling about this for some reason..'_

"Hey? Hale?"

My brother glanced up at me. "Yeah?"

I smiled at him, that smile that always gets to him in a good way. "Let's grab it together."

"Huh? Why? Not like something's gonna come out of there and grab ya." He tiled his head at me in confusion.

"I just.. got a feeling we should. Remember, we don't back down. We're in this together, right?" I looked at him dead in the eye, hoping for something.

He looked slightly taken aback from my look , but then just sighed and shook his head.

"Alright. Together."

He knelt down next to me, his hand on top of mine as we reached in to grab the ball. Just as we grabbed hold of it, a rope came out of the hole and was lassoed around both our wrists.

Then the next thing you know, we got sucked into the golf hole itself.

* * *

Once we were sucked in, we started screaming at how fast we were reeled in. Then suddenly, we caught sight of the Warner Brothers logo ahead of us. Hale held on to me and I held on to him as we braced ourselves for the worst.

We somehow went through the logo and we went crash landing down towards the ground.

We landed with a loud thud, causing the ground to shake beneath us. I felt the rope being pulled off from our wrists and someone munching on food..

_'Hold the phone...'_

I got up and saw little birds flying around my head. _'Ow.. that hurt..'_

I shook my head lightly, thankfully clearing my vision a bit. Then I heard a strangely familiar voice speak up right in front of us, "Oh, uh, look out for that first step, docs; it's a real lulu."

I snapped my head up and looked at the gray rabbit with morbid confusion and surprise.

"Bugs Bunny?" My brother seemed to have finally caught on to his senses and sat up. "Huh?" His eyes went wide, wider than golf balls. _'Now that I think about it, don't we look more cartoonish..?'_

I glanced at him then down at myself.

We also look somewhat animated, but almost like Japanese anime. _'Huh. Small world after all..'_

Suddenly, without us realizing it, he started walking towards us, shrugging, "Eh, you're expecting maybe the Easter Bunny?"

My brother blinked a couple of times, now registering the new info, "You're a cartoon! You're not real!"

"Not real, eh? If I weren't real, could I do this?" He pulled my brother in and gave him a big wet kiss, like he did in the cartoons! I flinched a bit, somewhat disgusted yet amused at the action.

Hale wiped the kiss away, saying how gross that was. _' Now that is priceless..'_

As I looked around, more of the Looney Tunes started to show up.

Elmer Fudd looked out of a barber shop with Foghorn Leghorn, and asked, "Oh, look! Are those two the new players?"

Sylvester came out of a sewer and smiled, "It is!"

Granny sweetly smiled, "It's two young adorable children."

Taz came out of a mail box and spun happily, "Basketball!"

Tweety looked down and said, "Hey, I tawt I saw…" before he could finish, he saw me and flew down saying, "I did! I did see two kids!" The Looney Tunes surrounded the both of us with looks of shock and interest, while Porky approached my brother and I with a camera and asked, "P-pardon me, c-could I have your ph-pho-p, your picture please?"

Daffy shoved some of the Tunes away and said, "Back up! Let the doctor take a look."

He pulled a lever and out of nowhere, we shot right up to the sky, stopping in midair!

I clung to my brother, for fear of falling off since we are both sitting in only one chair.

Daffy shrugged, "Oops, a little too high." I realized what he was about to do and I gasped, "No…" My brother realized it too and begged, "Don't do it!"

He pulled the lever down and whooped, "Going down!" We screamed as the both of us fell straight down. Thankfully, we landed with no damage or harm done.

The Tunes cheered and held up cards at our landing; they gave Hale and I a 10, 9.5, 11, and a heart shape.

I stared at them in disbelief while my brother kept clinging on to me like he just met the reaper, though I don't blame him. _'These guys are insane!'_

Daffy pulled up to us and menacingly said, "So, whaddya say we go for a little _spin_?" He spun us around around in the chair like a merry go round gone wild, stopped, and looked in my brother's ear, "Hmm, now let's see what we have inside here." Bugs looked through his ear and yodeled. I tried to stifle a giggle.

Then Daffy grabbed me and placed a thermometer in my mouth, "Say ah."

It exploded and he stamped our foreheads saying, "Alright, they're okay!"

I looked at my brother and he looked at me. Stamped on the front of our noggins said: "A-OK".

_'Yeah. They're real, alright.. I can feel it in my derriere..'_

I wiped off the stamp marks from my forehead and his. Hale glanced at me with huge eyes and mouthed the words, "They're real!"

I nodded with surprise, "Yeah. They are!"

We got up from the chair and decided to introduce ourselves, but not before the porcelain king made its call to my bladder.

"Um, excuse me? Where's the bathroom?", I inquired, feeling the bathroom samba starting to work it's way into my system.

"This way, dear.", Granny said, taking my hand in hers as she lead me to where the bathroom was. _'Guess my brother is stuck doing intros then.'_

* * *

**Third Person POV:**

Hale cleared his throatas Kari left with Granny to the bathroom. "Hey, well, my name is Hale. Hale Rodgers and I'm twelve years old. That girl who went with Granny is my little sister, Hikari, but you can call her Kari for short. She's only ten, but she's cool."

Bugs held out his hand and shook Hales. "Pleased to meet ya, Hale. I see you're pretty close with your sister."

Hale glanced down at his feet, a light pink hue tinting his cheeks, "Well, she's like my best friend besides my sister. So what's going on here? Why are we here?" He looked up to meet the Tunes' gaze, especially Bugs.

Bugs walked up to Hale and said, "Why Hale, I thought you'd never ask. You see, these aliens come from outer space and they want to make us slaves for their theme park. Eh, what do we care; they're little. So, we challenged them to a basketball game. But then, they show up and they ain't so little; THEY'RE HUGE! We need to beat these guys, because they're talking about slavery. They're gonna make us do stand-up comedy; the same jokes every night for all eternity."

Hale felt a pang in his chest. He kinda felt sorry for them, but there was something else about what Bugs just said that bothered him, though he brushed it off quickly. He let Bugs continue his story, "We're gonna be locked up like a bunch of wild animals and be trotted out to perform in front of a bunch of low-brow, bug-eyed, fat-headed, humor-challenged aliens! So, what I'm trying to say is: WE NEED YOUR HELLLP!"

Hale took another moment to digest all he had heard. At last he sighed, "Yeah, but we don't play basketball anymore like we used to. Besides, I play soccer now." He shrugged off his comment and replied, "_Right_, and I'm a Shakespearean actor."

Hale thought it over for a moment, then gave in. "Fine. But let me get my sister so she is aware of what's up."

Bugs shook his head and waved his hand. "No need. They're at the gym waiting for the rest of us. We can tell everything when we're over there so Kari will know whats going on."

Hale looked at Bugs surprisingly but shook it off. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's get a move on!"

The rest of the Tunes and Hale started to make their way to the gym. Little did they know that they were being watched and heard by one of their opponents.


	4. Ch 4 I Spy With Thy Little Aye

**Chapter 4 now available at a me near you!**

**I own nothing. Not even a dog. Only the Rodgers family.**

* * *

**Nawt's POV:**

The guys and I were busy putting our new found talents to the test. We shot hoops and dribbled to no end until Pound caught sight of something being hauled through the air by rope and landed with a booming thud.

"Well well well, it looks like the little pipsqueaks got themselves a little helper.", he said with a glint in his eye.

"Should we go give them a nice, warm welcome?", Bang growled, pounding his fists together.

"Nah, not yet. Nawt! Go check and see who the cat dragged in." All the others agreed mutually, except for Blanko, who just gave a nod that said "go and get it over with."

"Alright, fine.", I growled. Pound seems to be getting a lot more hot air in his head than he used to. What a pushover.

Since my talent gave me quick feet aside from amazing footwork and dribbling skills, I sped off to where the crash landing was. As soon as I reached the hillside, I quickly hid behind a tree and some bushes.

Peeking over I saw something, or should I say someone. Someone I never thought I would see again.

_'It's that boy! Guess he's all by his lonesome. Wonder what they're saying down there?'_

I listened into the conversation, at least, where it is at now. I heard the boy asking what was going on and what "they're" doing here. _'Guess he hit his head a lot harder than he thought..'_

That bunny then waltzed up to him and began to tell him about us, the issue of them being turned into slaves, and such. I really didn't care much about what that rodent had to say. Then the boy spoke again.

"Yeah, but we don't play basketball anymore like we used to. Besides, I play soccer now."

There goes that 'we' again. Does he has some multiple personality disorder that I don't know about? Unless...

Then I heard something about going to a gymnasium and someone waiting for them there. Then they took off.

"The gymnasium, huh? This is gonna be fun..", I said with a sinister grin. I headed back as quickly as I could to inform the rest of the group. Once I arrived, I told them the news.

"So, THAT kid is back, huh? Time for some serious payback!", growled Pound. Bang popped the basketball we were using with his teeth, not happy about that boy showing his face up. Bupkus crossed his arms and glared. "Well then, let's go give that kid his warm welcome." They all began to make their way to the gym. Blanko pulled me aside and asked, "So it was just that kid?" I nodded. "Yeah, he was the only one I saw among those weirdos."

"Sure hope you're right.." he said ominously.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I asked defensively. He didn't look at me directly, but he said lowly so the others would hear, "Nothing. But I have a hunch he ain't the only one here.."

I knew exactly what he meant. I felt uneasy but shook it off quick, hoping that he was wrong, that we were both wrong...


	5. Ch 5 Bros, Intros, and Shows Take One

**Chapter 5 here!**

**I don't own anything, I swear! Just don't beat me with a ukelele! **

**BIG THANK YOU to MonstarzGirl for ever so reviewing and taking her time to read my story! I read her first one and I must say... I LOVED IT! :D**

**I'll shut up now...**

* * *

Waiting for my brother to show up can be a real drag. Granny finished explaining to me what just happened and the reason for us being here. Apparently, some aliens came from a place called Moron Mountain and threatened to take the Looney Tunes as their new theme attraction. After telling me the terrible tale, I couldn't help but feel like we should help them. It's their freedom for crying out loud!

She and Witch Hazel took me here to this worn down gymnasium, where we sat by the bleachers waiting for my big brother and the rest of the Tunes to show up.

Granny was busy knitting a blanket or something like that, while Witch Hazel was busy making something out of thick wire or something and some shiny looking crystals. However, I left it at that. Didn't want to be too snoopy..

We suddenly heard the doors of the gym open and in came the other Looney Tunes and Hale. He looked around then saw me and grinned. "Kari!"

"Hale! About time!" I ran over to him and jumped on him, giving him a bear hug. He may be an idiot but he's still my brother.

Bugs came up to the both of us and spoke, "Well, here we are! You can use this place to practice your skills!"

Before I can say anything, Hale spoke up, "Look, we want to help, but we aren't as good as we used to be. Our timing is a little off."

Bugs reassured him, "Eh, we'll fix your timing. Look at our facilities!"

We looked around the gym and the sorry state it was in.

_'It's good, but it could use some new coat of paint and a tad bit of renovating... just a tad..'_

Daffy held onto a hoop and said, "We've got hoops," but fell with the rusty hoop.

Elmer pointed out, "We got weights," Taz lifted a weight to show us, but it toppled, carrying him with it.

Sylvester opened up a locker to show us and said, "We've got balls!", but a variety of balls then buried him.

"Yeah, Sure do. This place is a mess!", I exclaimed, unsure of whether the sports utilities are even safe enough to use.

Daffy shrugged it off, "Mess? You're worried about a little mess? There's nothing a little spit shine wouldn't fix." He shouted to all the Tunes, "SPIT SHINE!" He and everyone started spitting on the floor, sans Bugs.

My brother and I looked upon them in amazement and disgust. "Now why couldn't I do this to clean my bathroom?", Hale commented to me with an incredulous look. I punched him hard on the arm, making him wince with pain. "Ow! That hurt, Kari!" I just gave him a look and shook my head.

_'Mom would kill you, that's why. Secondly, THAT'S GROSS! Talk about lack of hygiene..'_

Then, Taz grabbed two mops and did his signature spin. As he spun around, he cleaned every meter and inch of the gym, making it look good as new! As he finished, he smiled, "Lemony fresh." We couldn't help it as Hale and I burst into laughter. "You guys are nuts!", I said to them.

Porky stammered, "C-correction, w-we're the Looney Tunes."

Daffy held up his tail feathers and revealed a Warner Brothers Logo. Right on his butt. "And as such exclusive property and trademark of Warner Brothers Inc." He kissed the logo on his butt. My brother and I just glanced at each other and laughed.

_'Man, this is just too cool!'_

But our fun was soon cut off as we all began to hear a loud rumbling sound coming from all the exit ends of the gym.

_'Now what?'_

* * *

**Third Person POV:**

The firsts couple of doors burst open with a loud boom as Nawt burst into the gym with a snarl. Pound busted through the other set of doors from Nawt's left with a thundering growl, followed by Bang and Bupkus coming in from the doors closest to the Tunes and kids, with Bupkus growling, "I'm here!"

Then last but not least, Blanko stepped into the room from the remaining closed doors. "Me too.", he said. While entering, he banged his head against one of the hoops and cried, "That hurt!"

All of the Monstars began to approach the kids with sinister grins and mild interest. They loomed over the Tunes and the children with their towering heights, making the Tunes quiver slightly.

Kari and Hale, however, were not deterred the least bit, despite that they're only 4'10 and 5'.

Kari was pushed behind Hale and the Tunes, making her presence unknown still to the giant Monstars.

"They look somewhat familiar...", Kari said to herself as the others shielded her from view.

"Hey, Bugs? Who are these guys?", Hale asked the gray hare.

Bugs placed a hand on Hale's shoulder and replied, "Well, uh, remember the tiny aliens I told you about?" He pointed at them behind him.

Then he realized, "Oh. I see."

Pound gave out a not so friendly introduction towards Hale, "You've heard of the Dream Team? Well, we're the _Mean Team_, wussy boy!"

Bupkus smirked, "Wussy boy."

Hale looked up at them and fumed, "Wussy boy? Why I oughta.."

Nawt jumped from Blanko's shoulder and right onto Pound's. "Yeah, we're the Monstars! M-O-N.. Oh, um.." Pound cut him and growled, "Let's see what you got, shrimp!" He roughly tossed the basketball to Hale, almost knocking the wind out of him.

Kari had enough out of this. She pushed her way past the Tunes forcefully, getting to the front where her brother was.

"Hey! Just who so you think you are? My brother can take you goons out any day!" The Monstars looked down in bewilderment and shock, especially Nawt.

"Kari, don't!" Hale straightened up with the basketball in his hands. He glared at the Monstars with equal dislike, "I don't play basketball anymore!", and tossed the ball back to Pound, knocking them out of their stupor.

Pound looked like he was about to maul the boy right then and there, but Bupkus cut him off. "I don't play basketball anymore! Hah! That's rich!" The other Monstars began to laugh and Bang added in, "Maybe you're chicken?" He started to imitate the movements and sounds that a chicken makes.

Hale was getting red in the face with anger and some embarrassment, but Kari soothed him to calm him down.

Foghorn stepped in and retorted, "I say, I resemble that remark!"

Kari decided to retaliate and smartly retorted, "Who are you calling chicken, you oversized miserable and smelly lout?"

They all stopped laughing and glared at her, all except for Nawt and Blanko. Nawt's face turned from shocked to scared as Pound stepped in, fearing for the worst.

"Hey! Come here!" Before he could grab her, Hale shoved her aside, "Kari move!", and was grabbed instead. "Hale!", she cried, but the Tunes grabbed her arms to keep her out of harms way.

He ignored her cries as he molded her brother into the shape of a basketball: literally!

He looked at Nawt and said, "Here ya go, boy. Take him!

He tossed Hale to Nawt, and he dribbled him. "Watch the footwork! Can you believe it?", he said then tossed him away.

Bang caught him and was about to dunk him, "Get out of the way!"

He dunked Hale so hard that the glass from the basketball hoop broke.

Kari hopelessly watched with the Tunes as Hale bounced and moaned with some pain.

Pound smirked, "Hey, everybody! Look at your little hero now!"

He and the gang started laughing at him as he unrolled back to his original shape.

Sitting on the floor and brushing himself off, Kari glared up and said, "You guys are making a _big _mistake."

Bang pointed at them and sneered, "You're all washed up, babies!"

Both she and Hale were completely taken aback by that insult.

Hale shouted, "Babies? Who are you calling babies?"

Tweety flew into Bang's face and said, "They're not washed up! Kari and Hale are gonna whoop your butts!"

Bang flicked him like a bug and growled, "Shut up!"

Tweety was knocked against the folded wall bleacher and slid to the ground.

Kari looked over at poor Tweety and picked him up. Tweety moaned, "Oh, my poor, wittle cwanium."

She held him in her hands and asked, "Are you okay Tweety?"

Blanko looked over Bang and Bupkus' shoulders, and asked, "Yeah, are you okay?"

Bang and Bupkus grabbed his arms and growled, "Hey!", looking at him like they were going to beat him up. Remembering his place, he said, "Whoops."

Tweety looked at her, teary-eyed, "You're not s-s-s-scared of them. Are you, Kari?"

Hale got up and dusted the dust off his shorts. He clearly had enough of the Monstars and their ravenous abuse towards the Tunes, himself, and his sister. He walked over to Kari and placed his hand on her shoulder. She got up and both of them turned and faced the Monstars, who were grinning at them both with evil toothy grins.

She placed Tweety on her shoulder and looked at her brother, nodding her head. He nodded back and both said in unison, "Let's play some basketball."

The Tunes cheered and the Monstars growled and decided to take their leave.

* * *

Nawt jumped off Pound's shoulder and walked behind the rest with Blanko. As soon as they left, he knew he may have some serious explaining to do as to why _she_ was there too. With Kari involved, he knew it would make things more difficult and he felt bad about it. She must really _hate_ him about now for dribbling her brother around like that. _Her_ brother!

'_Tonight. I have to apologize to her tonight. It's the only way she'll forgive me and know that I mean no harm to her or her brother... well, her mainly.'_

He thought about how she stood up to them for mocking Hale and how she countered Bang like that. Nawt smiled at that memory. He even now knew her name! "Kari, huh..?" he mumbled to himself.

Nawt continued walking towards the abandoned warehouse with the rest of the gang, going over his apology plan over his head until he got it memorized at what to do and how he's gonna do it. Brimming with confidence that's invisible to his teammates, he assured himself.

_'It's worth a shot..'_


	6. Ch 6 Ready or Nawt, Here He Comes

**Chapter 6**

**I own nothing. Nope. Not a thing. Only Hikari and Hale Rodgers.**

* * *

Soon after the Monstars left, Hale and I went back to focusing on the matter at hand, which was preparing and practicing some basketball with the Tunes.

Hale began to assemble the Tunes, hoping to see how much they know about basketball themselves.

"Alright, everyone! Gather up! Now, before we get started on anything serious, we need to see what you got.", he explained.

The Tunes all responded merrily, and Hale then tossed the ball over to Wile, since he was closer. However, what happened for the next two to three hours or so wasn't exactly what we were hoping for, let alone expecting.

All the Tunes started to do random things that they normally are found doing in the cartoon shows.

Hale looked like he was gonna bust a gut from refrained laughter. I, on the other hand, wasn't happy with the way they were acting. I mean, it's okay if it was in the cartoon, but if this is what they got to defend their right to be free, then their goose is cooked... including us!

I shook my head as they continue to screw around like they normally do. My brother eventually grew bored about their antics and looked at the clock out of curiosity.

"Kari! Look! It's almost 5:00! We got to head back home or dad is gonna have our heads roll!", he cried in panic.

I jumped at his remark and snapped my attention at the clock.

_'Well great! Now we have to get home, but how? We got pulled in here, but with no idea how to get back!'_

Just like it was the answer to our prayers, Witch Hazel approached us with something in her hands. "Need to get back home? Try these!"

In each of our hands, she placed a necklace that are identical with two different color crystals. Almost like the ones you find in an emporium for good luck.

"What are these?", Hale asked, examining the handmade jewelry up close. Bugs then approached us as well. "Eh, I asked Hazel to make these for ya, so that way you guys can get home and back. Like 'em?"

"But what are they exactly?", I asked with morbid confusion.

Witch Hazel simply cackled lightly. "Touch the purple crystal to return home, touch the blue crystal to return back to Looney Tune Land. Think of it as a method of quick transportation so it won't be such a hassle to retrieve you both and return you again. I hope you like them! Think of it as a thank you gift for accepting to help us all."

I smiled warmly at the notion. _'We have to help them. We have to help them win this game, for their sake..'_

"Thank you, Witch Hazel. We really appreciate it.", Hale said with generosity lacing his voice. I knew he was grateful, too.

We both placed our own necklaces around our necks, the two crystals dangling together with three wooden beads; one on each end and the third separating the two.

Bugs then looked alarmed, like he just remembered something. "Oh! Uh, one more thing, docs." From out of nowhere, he took out a sheet of paper, which what appeared to be a schedule listing when the game will take place and where, as well as small boxes labeling the practice times.

"The big game will take place in two weeks, on a Friday. Above that little notice, you'll see I already planned out when we all have to gather up for practice and drills, if that's okay with ya. I got my own copy here, so you guys can take this one." Bugs handed the paper over to me, as my brother and I revised the whole thing one last time.

"Seems legit. Don't ya think, Kari?" He glanced at me, as if asking for my approval.

"Yeah, I suppose... Hold on. Two weeks from now? On a Friday?"

Bugs nodded his head with mutters of approval from the other Tunes. "Yep, two weeks. Why?"

I exchanged with both him and Hale. "What time?"

"Eh, it should say. Around 4:30. Though I should advise both of you to be at the stadium by around no later than 4:00 to get yourselves ready. Is there something going on around then?"

Hale looked at me with confused eyes. "Crud. Hale, we have our talent show at 7:30 that very same night! We're supposed to preform a duet song of our choice and we already signed ourselves in!"

Hale face palmed and groaned. "That's right. I completely forgot! So what do we do?"

Daffy intervened out of nowhere, "Whoa! You guys sing?"

Bugs then commented, "You two don't need to worry. You'll make it in time for your show. But, eh, mind if we come and watch? That is, if we win the game Friday night and gain our freedom back."

I couldn't believe my own ears.

_'Doth my ears deceive me..? Did I just hear Bugs Bunny say that he and the Tunes want to see us perform?'_

Hale looked upon them with bewilderment. "You guys want to see _us_ perform? For real?"

All the Tunes cheered in approval with enthusiasm. Bugs smiled, "Of course. You guys are putting your lives on the line to help us. It's the least we could do, and besides, I think it'll be fun and worth the time. We wanna see what you two can do!"

Hale and I turned to each other and whooped with joy. The Looney Tunes want to see our live performance on stage, even if it's just a talent show!

"Alright, it's a deal. Let us just check with our teacher if we can get extra seating."

Bugs looked slightly confused, "Aren't you guys on summer vacation?"

I nodded. "Yeah, but its a community talent show. Our homeroom teacher is part of the committee and he is in charge of admissions and registering performers."

"Ah. Makes sense. Alrighty, kids! Take that schedule with ya and we'll see ya tomorrow, same time, same place."

We bid the Tunes farewell as we left the gymnasium and headed outside, where we can use the crystals more effectively, as a start to see if they work.

"Hey Hale, do you think we'll be able to beat those Monstars? They do look kinda tough."

Hale responded proudly, "Of course we can! Those Monstars won't know what's coming to them! Trust me, Kari. We'll help the Tunes win this game for sure."

I smiled at my brothers boost of confidence. _'Atta boy, big bro. That's what I want to hear. Words of a true player and winner.'_

"However,", he came to a halt, "It's gonna take a lot of work from the both of us to get the guys into shape. Did you see how they were acting? I'm not sure if any of them know how to play basketball.."

I walked up to him and placed my hand on his shoulder. "Don't worry. We just gotta teach them how, and we'll keep showing them all the right moves until they got it down."

He grinned brightly at me. "You sure have faith in them, don't ya?"

I grinned back. "So should you. We gotta pull this team together if we want to win and help get their freedom back."

We clasped each others hands and looked back at the gym. "Yeah. You're right, Kari. Now let's get home if we still want to be alive to keep that promise."

I nodded as we both grabbed the purple crystals on our necklaces and with a bright illuminating flash, we were gone.

* * *

**Nawt's POV:**

After the guys and I finished practicing the hoops and ate some grub, they knocked themselves out for some sleep in an abandoned house we found near the warehouse. I quietly snuck out of the house and ran out back towards the gym. Luckily it was still early in the afternoon, and the guys sleep like no tomorrow once they're out. Plus, they tend to sleep in.. a lot!

As I made it back to where the gym was, I noticed the two kids walking out of the gym and heading into the field.

I hid behind a bush and waited, hoping they didn't see me. _'Well smart guy, now what?'_

I peeked over the bush and saw them grabbing some fancy looking gems around their necks and the next thing I knew, they disappeared with a flash.

I couldn't believe my eyes! Just like that, they were gone! Now I was in a pickle... How do I know where to find them now?

Suddenly my sensitive ears picked up another voice, no two; two very familiar voices. I looked over to the gym and saw that rabbit and the mallard talking. I decided to get a little closer, hoping to get some useful info as to where I can find Kari.

I hid behind a mailbox and listened.

"You know, those kids aren't as bad as I thought. They're pretty tough, especially that Kari girl.", the black duck said.

"Yeah. Did ya see how she stood up to those guys? Now that's real gut right there.", the rabbit replied.

_'I know. She's amazing.. wait! What am I thinking? Focus! Find out where she is so you can say you're sorry then leave!'_

"Say, did you get their home address? You know, just in case we have to go fetch them if they don't show up?", the mallard asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, I got it. I pinned it right on the bulletin board back in the gym.", the hare said.

"Let's hope you have a copy.", the duck said blatantly.

"I always do, feather head.", he replied.

_'The bulletin board in the gym, huh? Well, that makes everyone's lives a whole lot easier.'_

As soon as they made the corner and were out of earshot and sight, I bolted to the gym doors and opened them. There next to me on the wall, I found a bulletin board with a piece of paper pinned on to it. On the paper was written Kari's home address.

I smirked and took it down and was about to take my leave as quickly as possible before I had the chance to be caught.

But before I did, something shiny caught my eye. It came from the bleachers. I walked towards the bleachers and found two tiny shards of colored glass, one purple and one blue. I soon realized these we the same colored stones that Kari and her brother were wearing around their necks!

_'Guess I don't have to take the long way after all..'_

I found some strong wire next to them on the floor and grabbed it along with the gems. I slid them in with a knot separating the two and made them into a necklace of my own. Remembering which gem they used, I grabbed the purple one and hoped for the best. I grinned as a bright flash emanated from the purple stone, clutching to the piece of paper in my left hand.

_'Ready or not.. Here I come..'_, and in a flash, I was long gone.


	7. Ch 7 Intentions

**Well, here's chapter 7.**

**The necklaces resemble closely to MonstarzGirl's bracelets, but I decided to have them like combination of the necklaces from the Disney movie 'Atlantis' and chaos emeralds from the Sonic the Hedgehog series. I will make drastic changes with them later. I own only the Rodgers family. I don't own anything else.**

* * *

After we disappeared in the bright flash, we couldn't see anything but black for a brief moment. Then our surroundings made themselves clear as our house came into view with only our mom's car parked in the driveway.

_'Guess that means mom's already home... that's a relief.'_

Hale opened his eyes and looked around him as well, breathing out a sigh of happiness that we're back home. "Kari! We're back! We're home!"

I nodded, feeling relief brush into my soul. But at the same time, I couldn't help but feel like we were being watched when we left.

Just then the front door of the house opened and there was our mom with her apron put on and holding a bowl of what looks like tomato paste. I assumed she was making lasagna since its the only dish she would mix sauce for.

"Kari? Hale? When did you two get home? Never mind, I'll have dinner ready in about an hour. Come inside and get yourselves cleaned up! I'm making lasagna!"

My brother and I looked at each other and grinned widely. We were finally back home and what's even better, just in time to eat and get ourselves prepared for tomorrow's meeting with the Tunes.

"Race ya!", Hale yelled as he ran towards the house. I ran after him as he sprinted into the house and bolted up the stairs. Before I even took a step onto the front porch, I heard a soft rustling sound coming from behind me and a slight breeze.

_'It's not even windy...'_

I immediately turned around just to see... Nothing. I saw nothing.

_'What? But I swore I heard something... Maybe I've been spending too much time with cartoons..'_

I scanned the entire area quickly, but didn't catch a thing. I shook my head and murmured, "I think I'm just really hungry and really, _really_ tired."

I jumped onto the porch and walked into the house closing the door behind me, the smell of food wafting throughout the house and my mom's humming.

I heard my brother washing his hands and apparently done taking his trip to the bathroom. I washed my hands in my own bathroom and then walked into my room. I plopped onto my bed, staring up at my ceiling, recalling the events of today and all that just happened to both me and Hale.

I still couldn't believe it, and guarantee that neither could Hale. To think that we were asked by none other then the Looney Tunes for help. And those Monstars... Eh, they weren't _that_ intimidating.

The red one seemed all too familiar, well, all of them do. But the red one caught my attention the most and I knew it. He didn't seem all that bad. I felt like I knew him from somewhere... wait, they were aliens, right?

_'Could that guy be the same one? The same little alien from before that I rescued? But that can't be.. He's BIGGER now! If that's the case though, how did they get so big?'_

I felt so many questions pop into my head all revolving about the Monstars, especially the red one, who I think was the same one I saved that very night Charles Barkley and Patrick Ewing were taken to the hospital.

My train of thought was soon interrupted by a knock coming from doorway to my room. I sat up and looked o see Hale standing right there at the doorway. "Hey, dinner's almost ready. Mom told me to come get you, and dad's home too. He's parking in the driveway right now. Guess we won that bet, huh?" A smile was plastered on his face, but soon faded as he looked at mine more carefully.

"Hey, what's wrong Kari? Something bugging you?" He walked in and sat next to me.

I shook my head. "Hale, it doesn't make sense. Those Monstars, I mean. Don't they look familiar to you?"

He gave me a surprised look and took a moment to ponder, holding his chin with his right hand. Like a lightening bulb just turned on above his head, he said, "Now that you mention it, I think we have seem them from somewhere before... nah, it can't be. You're not thinking what I'm thinking.."

I nodded to confirm his thoughts. "That they could very well be the same aliens we saw from the basketball game Friday night. Hale, it does make sense there, but how did they get so big?"

He shrugged and got up. "Beats me, but I'm still not sure if it _is_ them, Kari. That's a short period of time for them to grow that big that quickly. Right now though, I think it's best we leave that alone. We can't have mom and dad find out about all this, at least not right now."

I couldn't help but agree with him. Hale's right. It's too soon to tell if those aliens and the Monstars are one and the same people we're dealing with. Also, having mom and dad finding out about this isn't such a good idea. They would think we've lost our minds and lock us up in an asylum or something. So everything must still be kept a secret between us, along with the Tunes.

I got up and stretched. "Well, I suppose you're right. Guess we should go and eat now. I don't know about you, but I'm starving!"

It's true. We didn't even eat lunch!

"I concur, dear sister. Let's roll!" We hurried down the hall and down the stairs towards the dining area, our delicious meal waiting to fill our empty stomachs.

* * *

After dinner was over, we had a slice of angel food cake, which was extremely light and tasty. After the cake, we went upstairs and into our own bathrooms for a shower. I finished my shower first while my brother was still trying to find a clean pair of underwear. His room is somewhat messy, but when it comes to his boxers it's a lost cause.

I walked out of my bathroom, clad in a rose pink pajama top with a red rose printed in the top center and magenta shorts. I still had the necklace around my neck, surprised that the water didn't do any damage to it. I heard from across my room Hale turning on the water in his shower, indicating that he just started his cleaning process. I shook my head and smiled at how incredible my older brother truly was.

I closed my bedroom door, not wanting to see my brother once he gets out from marinating his body in soap and water then went to open my bedroom window. I slightly leaned my head out to feel the light breeze of the dark and starry sky above me, feeling tranquil and at peace.

Deeply taking in the scent of the cool air around me, I closed my eyes and smiled warmly at how nice the wind felt against my skin. It was so relaxing, so invigorating, so...

_'Why do I feel warm breath near my face..?"_

I opened my eyes and nearly screamed right then and there. A large red hand quickly covered my mouth before I could utter a single sound and the red figure the hand belonged to put a finger near his lips, telling me to stay quiet.

My eyes widened a bit and my heart was racing three times faster than it normally did, but not out of fear. He jumped of the tree branch from where he was sitting on that came from our old oak tree in the front yard and into my room.

With his free hand, he gently closed the window then closed the blinds. _'How in the world did he DO that? He's pretty strong too... wait, back up! What's he doing here in my room anyways?'_

Before I could do anything at all, he soon took his other hand and grabbed my left arm, but not forcefully. I was shocked at the action and even more so when he spoke.

"Don't freak out! I'm not here to hurt you. Actually, I'm here to, well, uh... What I want to say is...", he soon looked defeated for some reason and sighed heavily. He dropped both of his arms, leaving me to stand there staring at him with a dumbfound look on my face more or less.

"I'm sorry. I also want to apologize on behalf of my teammates, despite they may not want to do so themselves. I especially want to tell you how sorry I am for dribbling your brother like that and trying to intimidate him. That would be no way for me to be thanking you, especially for saving my life like you just did a few nights ago."

_'So it is him! I knew it! And to take a risk just to apologize for what happened earlier today? I'll give it to him, the guy has guts and seems to have moral values too.'_

I snapped out of it and looked up at him. He was quite a tall guy, even though he's shorter than the others. He was looking down at me, a look in his eyes I partially couldn't grasp. It was a mix of sadness, happiness, shame, and something else I couldn't put my finger on. I could feel my heart strings being slightly tugged at his notion. He really did meant it.

"I forgive you. It took you a lot of risk just to get here without getting in trouble, so I gotta say, I admire that. Don't worry." I assured him, smiling at him.

His ears raised themselves up a bit, his face looking surprised and his eyes illuminating with glee. "You mean, you don't hate me?"

I gawked at him. "Hate you? No, I mean, you guys did put a mean act there, so I can't say I was flipping with joy and rainbows. But hating you? Not at all. It was very kind and sincere of you to come all the way here to say you're sorry. I really wasn't expecting that at all!"

He smiled a wide, toothy grin. This guy wasn't so bad at all.

"My name's Hikari, by the way. Hikari Rodgers, but you can call me Kari, though I think you already caught my name at the gym, huh?"

He shrugged, "It's still worth an introduction. Mine's Nawt."

I tilted my head. "Huh?"

He smiled and chuckled, "My name. Nawt. N-A-W-T."

"Oh! Heh, that's a unique name. I like it." You know, this guy is nice. I mean, REALLY. Who knew, but then again, he was that way too when he thanked me for saving him.

I heard my door open and suddenly felt my heart drop. I turned around and saw Hale standing there with his eyes bulging out of his sockets and his mouth wide open in a silent scream.

Without any second thoughts, I yanked him into my room and shut the door once more, this time locking it.

"Wha- How- When...?",my brother stuttered, obviously shocked at the fact there was an alien in my room and it just had to be one of the Monstars.

"Hale, it's okay. He's not here to hurt us. He just came here to apologize for earlier." Calming him down was the only way our parents wouldn't come storming up to see what's going on.

After taking a moment of trying to regain his composure, he let out a deep sigh. "Okay, what's going on here? Why is HE here in your room, Kari? Are his friends with him too?" He bombarded us with questions to no end. What's next? He's gonna ask me if we're gonna date then get married? Goodness...

"Are mom and dad still awake?", I quickly intervened. He stopped and just looked at me. "No. They went to bed a while ago. Why?"

"Just making sure they're not awake. Listen, he's only here to apologize. My room is closest to the front, so I guess it was easier for him to enter through here." I then turned to Nawt, who was now sitting on my bed looking at us. "How _did_ you get here, by the by?"

"With this." He pulled out a necklace that was almost identical to mine and Hale's. We gawked at him in wonderment.

_'Is he gonna pull a rabbit out of nowhere next? Never mind, best if I just leave it at that...'_

"Okay. But how do we not know you're here to sabotage our methods of trying to save the Tunes?", he asked somewhat aggressively towards Nawt.

"Guess you're still mad for me dribbling you like a ball. Don't worry. I'm not here to foil anyone's methods or plans. But I will give you guys a warning and some advice."

We both looked at him completely stunned. "Warning?", Hale said. "Advice?", I then said.

Nawt nodded. "I don't want to be enemies with you two, especially you Kari. But when we do play against each of our teams, don't expect us to hold back. I may go easy on you, but I can't say the same for the rest of my team. However, it will be just on you two only. The Tunes have an account with us to settle and I will act however I want when I face them myself along with the other Monstars in the big game."

Hale and I exchanged glances then looked back at Nawt and slowly nodded our heads. "Okay, well at least we know where we stand.", Hale said.

"But why go out of your way to give us that? I mean, the apology was a surprise in and of itself, but additional advice and precautions? What's the catch, Nawt?", I asked, now confused like a blithering idiot.

Nawt glanced at me with a warm look in his eyes. "No catch. Just want to do what I can to help you Kari. Your safety is all that matters to me."

I was slightly taken aback by his words. My safety? It wasn't that I took it offensively, but it wasn't something that I was expecting from one of our opponents.

Though just hearing those words, I felt my heart swell with something; a feeling I never felt before in my life... and it felt nice.

Nawt made his way to the window and opened it. I quickly asked him, almost desperately, "Where are you going, Nawt?"

My brother Hale raised a brow. "Nawt? That's your name? Huh, well that's rare..."

He looked back at us. "I gotta head back before the rest of the guys wake up. We'll see each other again, maybe after each of us finish doing drills and practice we can shoot some hoops for fun?"

Hale was about to protest but I cut him off. "Sure! Most definitely!" I couldn't explain why I acted that way, but for some reason, I feel like wanting to have the chance to see him again and I don't think it's just cause he's someone I recently rescued and all that.

He smiled brightly at me. "Great! Well, see ya two real soon then!"

He jumped down and landed without a hitch. Nawt grabbed the blue crystal and in a flash, he disappeared.

Hale gave me a look of disapproval. "Kari, I don't think this is such a good idea. What if he's just using us?"

"He's not. Trust me, Hale. Nawt is trying to help us. He wouldn't have told us all of that if he wasn't."

He stared at me for a brief minute then shrugged, the look in his eyes softening. "Fine. I'll trust your gut on this. But if he tries something on you, then I'll make him wish he was never alive!"

I jumped at his words. "What are you talking about?"

_'I think he ate too much cake... Let's just hope he isn't smoking something I don't know about!'_

He just waved it off. "Never mind. It's getting late and we have to show up tomorrow to help the Tunes get in shape. I'm going to bed, so goodnight Kari."

He unlocked my door and walked into his room across the hall, closing his door shut. I went and closed mine after he left. _'Stupid brother. Just what is he thinking "if he does anything to me"?'_

Closing my window and closing the blinds, I turned to my bed. As I approached my bed, I gasped as I saw a red rose lying where Nawt sat. I carefully picked the beautiful flower up and admired it.

Taking a deep whiff from it's bud, I smiled brightly. _'I knew he wasn't bad..'_

I took a small glass vase from my vanity and filled it with some water from my sink and placed the rose inside it.

I placed the vase with the rose on my vanity once more and went to my bed, tucking myself in. Taking one last look at the rose while clutching the crystals around my neck, I turned of my light; sleep enveloping me with the most of pleasant dreams for the rest of the night.


	8. Ch 8 A New Leader, & 'Sweet Dreams'

**Chapter 8 is now up and at 'em!**

**I own nothing but the Rodgers family, my far fetched imagination, and my own DVD copy of Space Jam that I bought with my own money. Best choice ever. I don't own the song 'Sweet Dreams' originally by Eurythmics, but in this chapter I want to use the Emily Browning version, not just cause it seemed more melodic in and of itself, but it somewhat describes the tension of their situation with the Monstars, the Monstars themselves, and the Tunes even, and I don't own that one either.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Waking up a little earlier than usual was unusual for me to say the least. I raised myself out of bed and looked over to my vanity. The rose was still there inside the vase from last night. It brought a light and tingly sensation to my stomach and a smile to my lips.

I got out o my bed and walked to my drawers, where I opened the top drawer and pulled out my pink Adidas sports top and complimenting black shorts with two pink stripes running down the sides. I took out my white ankle socks and pulled on my black and pink Champion sneakers. After dressing up and brushing my short hair out a bit, I opened my bedroom door and went across the hall to knock on my brothers door.

Hale opened it up and was dressed in his red Adidas sports top and complimentary black sports pants with red stripes running down the sides. His shoes were black Nike's and he wore white ankle socks. Across his head he wore his red and black Nike sweatband. Each of us wore our necklaces of course, now fully prepared for today's built up schedule.

"Ready?", he asked me, a flare in his eyes like I never saw before.

I gave him my most determined look and clenched my fists. "You bet. Let's go get some breakfast then head out."

We went downstairs and ate our breakfast, which consisted of Belgian waffles with powdered sugar and blueberries on top, poached eggs, a banana each, and pomegranate juice. Our mom never misses a beat when it comes to our favorite breakfast dishes!

After we ate, we brushed our teeth and bid our parents goodbye, telling them we were going to the park to play some basketball. Hale grabbed his basketball from the side closet next to the front door and his copy of the house keys,, then out we went to the park. Once we got there, the both of us looked around to see if anyone was watching; thankfully no one else was even there.

I grabbed his hand securely and grabbed my blue crystal with the other, and we disappeared into the bright light.

* * *

As quickly as we came was as quickly as our surroundings cleared. We were in the same field right near the gymnasium in Looney Tune Land.

"Alright, it worked! We're here now!", I cried excitedly. It was about the same time here as it was in our world, so time wasn't such a worry or hassle for us.

"Let's head into the gym. The Tunes might be worried that we didn't show.", my bro said.

We briskly made our way towards the gym and entered the doors. We found Bugs near the entrance and looked our way, a grin spreading across his face.

"Hey there, kids! Glad ya could make it! You're here a bit early, so you want to get started?"

I nodded. "Yeah! We gotta get ourselves into shape if we want to beat those Monstars!"

Bugs took out a carrot and bite into it happily. "Then, uh, let's get going in. The others are waitin' for us!"

Walking into the gym, we found the other Tunes I the middle of the court. "Hey guys! Look who's here!", Bugs called out to them. All the Tunes turned their heads over and gave out murmurs of awes and hopefulness. Somehow, just seeing my brother and I here and looking ready gave them some hope about the entire situation.

Hale then spoke once we reached the middle of the court. "Now, again like before, we need to see what you guys can do. Give us your best performance and from there we'll see where to start."

He tossed the ball to Porky, to give the Tunes a running start. Just like before, the Tunes were doing their own schtick and tricks. Yosemite Sam was shooting his pistols, Foghorn Leghorn was bashing Barnyard Dog's rear with a paddle, Pepe Le Peau was prancing around, Taz was spinning as usual, and Wile Coyote was trying to catch Roadrunner who ran away with a basketball, and ran into a wall attempting to do so.

Hale glanced at Bugs with a worried expression. I shook my head, becoming frustrated.

"Aside from Hale and I, has anyone here ever played basketball?"

Then, the doors opened and a tan female bunny with a tuft of blonde hair came onto the court, "Um, I do. I like to try out for the team."

Bugs sees her and spazes out, "Hey!"

She smiled at Bugs and held out her hand, "Hi, my name is Lola Bunny."

"Lola!", Bugs said her name and introduced himself, "Hello, my name is..." he belched by accident, "_Bugs_!"

Lola giggled a bit, and he asked, "So, you wanna play a little one-on-one, doll?"

Then I noticed her eyes flashed with fire in anger and said hotly, "_Doll_?"

He nodded with hearts in his eyes, "uh-huh!"

She accepted and said, "On the court...Bugs."

Just seeing Bugs falling head-over-heels was pretty hilarious, but I tried not to let it show. I think Hale caught on too as he let out a snort, trying to suppress his laughter too.

Tweety said, "Ooh, she's hot."

"I second that motion.", my brother said purposefully. He knew that would make me irritated, and it worked. _'Men..'_

We watched Lola dribble the ball with no problem at all, as she whizzed past Bugs, then dunked the ball into the hoop.

My eyes almost boggled out of my sockets. "That girl's got some skills!" Hale nodded dumbly, apparently stunned as well. _'Idiot..'_

She approached Bugs as he laid strewed on the court floor in a knot, literally. He said dumbly, "yes?"

Lola placed a finger under his chin and tilted his head up. "Don't ever call me... _Doll_." She blew one of her ears our of her face and dropped him, walking away.

"Check!", he said as his body went rigid like a board.

"Hey, nice playing with you!" As she was about to leave, I called out to her, "Hey Lola! Wait! Why not practice with us?"

Hale agreed. "Yeah. We could really use some talent like yours here on the court! Why don't ya stick around?"

She turned around and smiled, "Really? Alright, then."

"But first, why not check with Granny so she can measure you for the uniform?" She nodded and walked towards the bleachers where Granny and Witch Hazel were sitting.

_'That reminds me, after her turn, me and Hale should get ourselves measured for our uniforms!'_

I walked up behind Bugs, "Real smooth there." He sighed, "Eh, she's obviously nuts about me."

I rolled my eyes and replied sarcastically, "_Obviously._"

Pepe picked the basketball and sighed, "Mais Oui."

After Lola got her measurements taken, I went up to the bleachers and got mine taken down followed by Hale. Once she got our measurements, we walked back to the center of the court and got down to explaining to the Tunes about offense, defense, foul shots, and so on.

After we explained that to them, Bugs raised an interesting subject. "Eh, so, uh, who's gonna be Team Captain?"

Hale and I looked at him in surprise and then glanced at each other. "Well, come to think of it, we didn't get to debate on that.", I said uncomfortably.

Suddenly, Hale tossed the ball over to me, catching me completely off guard. "Wha? Hale, what are you-?"

He grinned at me widely with a look of trust and confidence. "Kari, I think you should be captain."

This caught me and the Tunes completely by surprise. _'Well,didn't see THAT one coming. Not at all.'_

"But Hale, you were the one the Monstars took more seriously and as a challenge! Shouldn't you do it?"

If there was ever a time that I didn't understood my brother with no explanation that comes to mind, it was at that precise moment. He placed his left hand on my right shoulder.

"True, but I showed weakness to them when they did. YOU were the one who stood up to them without even flinching and not once did you falter. That was a huge act of courage you did then, and I think that makes you worthy of being our captain."

I was honestly touched by his words. I held back my oncoming eye-sweat of joy and nodded. The Tunes cheered and whistled. Bugs took my hand in his and shook it. "Congrats, Kari! You are now our official team captain!" Daffy then spoke up loudly, "Well captain, show us what you can do!"

I felt all eyes on me, including my brothers. I closed my eyes momentarily then opened them again. I took the ball and began dribbling down the court with swift speed. The next thing I knew, I was up in the air, dunking the ball into the hoop. I felt the adrenaline rushing through my veins as I took the ball once again and moved from the sides, dribbling here and there. Hale soon joined and tried to take the ball. I dodged him and moved to his left, jumping high in the air and I tossed the ball into the hoop again.

The Tunes were in complete awe and wonderment. After five minutes or so of me and Hale passing, dribbling and dunking, the Tunes then joined and started to play as well.

* * *

This continued on for the next two hours, with around four breaks in between each half hour of practice. By quarter to noon, Bugs called it quits for a while. We all decided to take a good hour and a half break, so the Tunes went out to compose themselves again and to get something to eat.

Hale and I were the last ones in the gym, and he spoke, "Hey, I'm gonna go get something to eat? You want anything?"

I nodded. "Yeah, a burger and some fries with a lemonade." He nodded back. "Okay, I'll be back in about ten minutes tops. Don't go anywhere!" He jogged out of the gym and out to get the food.

I stood in the middle of the gym by myself. Taking in the idea of me being captain really wowed me in every way possible. To think, me? Captain! I felt like this was just all a dream, but I definitely knew it wasn't.

Knowing my brother was going to take a while to come back with refreshments, I walked over to the bleachers and took a seat. I picked up my brother's basketball and spun it around in my hands.

I looked up through the windows, the sun's rays illuminating the entire facility. I felt bored and the ball soon began to bore me, so I started to do something I didn't think to do until the night of our talent show...

I started to sing.

"_Sweet dreams are made of these_

_Who am I to disagree?_

_I traveled the world and the seven seas_

_Everybody's looking for something_

_Some of them want to you use you_

_Some of them want to get used by you_

_Some of them want to abuse you_

_Some of them want to be abused"_

I took the basketball and began to lightly dribble it into a rhythm. I then began to sing a bit louder, my voice becoming a bit more melodic and sweet.

"_Sweet dreams are made of these_

_Who am I to disagree?_

_I traveled the world and the seven seas_

_Everybody's looking for something_

_Some of them want to use you_

_Some of them want to get used by you_

_Some of them want to abuse you_

_Some of them wan to be abused"_

I began to vocalize melodically, almost as if I'm tuning a lullaby. I whispered, "_Sweet dreams are made of these, who am I to disagree?"_

I got up and sang a little louder than before, with more heart put into it.

"_Some of them want to use you_

_Some of them want to get used by you_

_Some of them want to abuse you_

_Some of them want to be abused!"_

I vocalized in tune to the way the song was was sung while dribbling the ball in rhythm, and then finished it by bouncing the ball one last time very harshly against the floor.

The silence that I thought was to follow from my secluded singing was replaced by someone clapping. I turned around to the outside entrance of the gym and saw Nawt. I blushed until I knew I was probably as red as a beet.

He smiled and approached me. "You have a beautiful voice. I didn't know you could sing?"

I smiled shyly and glanced down at the ball in my hands. "Well, only my brother knows I can sing like this. Not even our parents know. I'm practicing so I can get good enough to perform at our community talent show that's two weeks from this Friday."

Nawt raised his brows. "Really? Can I come and see? Well if that's okay with you... and Hale too, of course.."

I looked up at him and smiled brightly. "Sure! I'll see what we can do. I'll be singing a different song though.. I just don't know what song yet. But I'll figure it out!"

He nodded and placed his large hands on my shoulders. "I'm sure you will. What will Hale be doing?"

"He might sing, but he prefers to play his guitar. Chances are he'll do that instead. Oh, I almost forgot!" I threw my arms around him and hugged him lightly, whispering in his ear, "Thank you for the rose you left me. It was really pretty."

If I was looking at him in the face at that moment, I would have seen his face almost turn two more deeper shades of red.

"A-anytime!", he stuttered, a large goofy grin spreading across his face.

I let him go and right then was when Hale opened the door with food in his hands. "Hey Nawt! Surprised to see you here! Sorry I didn't get food for you. I only got enough for me and Kari."

Nawt shook his head. "It's alright, I already ate a while ago. Just came to see how you guys are holding up."

* * *

For the next twenty-five minutes, we ate and talked about how much the Tunes have improved, even though Nawt was with us. Nawt told my brother that he came upon my singing and that's how he found me, which earned me a glare from my brother. _'It's not like he was gonna do anything to me, so chill Hale!'_

After we finished eating, we shot some hoops with Nawt for fun for the next half hour. After the half hour was over, Nawt bid us goodbye for now, not wanting to attract the attention of any of his teammates. As he bid us farewell, he slipped something into my pocket and then took his leave. My brother didn't seem to have caught that, so I decided to keep that to myself.

About ten minutes or so after Nawt left, the Tunes came back for some more practice. We shot more hoops with them and taught them some techniques that could be proven useful for the final showdown.

For hours we played with the Tunes until it started to grow late in the afternoon. By around five, we said our goodbyes for the day and took off out of the gym. Once we were in the field, we were about to take the purple crystals but Hale stopped me.

"Kari, did Nawt do anything to you while I was getting food? He didn't, did he?"

I gawked at him in disbelief. "'No, Hale. He didn't! Why don't you trust him?"

"I just don't. I trust you, Kari, but I think you shouldn't be alone with him. It just bugs me."

I took in what he said and sighed. He always was overprotective of me. "Just try, Hale. He isn't a bad guy. Please, for me?"

Hale gave a stern face, but eventually gave in, like he always does. "Fine. But try not to be alone with him. It just gives me the creeps."

I smirked at him, "You sure it isn't just you going into 'big brother protection mode'?"

He gave me a dirty look. "No. Now let's get home so mom and dad won't go into 'parent protection mode'."

I smiled and nodded. We then took hold of our crystals and left in a flash.


	9. Ch 9 Letters of Familiarity

**Clearly neglecting my wonderful readers is abuse on my behalf and I will admit it! I am so sorry! DX **

**Here is Chapter 9 on the go! I own nothing except for the Rodgers family. Enjoy!**

* * *

Hale and I got home as we did before. Darkness first, then everything clears around us. Our mother and father weren't home yet, so we took the liberty of going inside the house to see what we could eat.

As soon as we got in and locked the door, we put down the basketball walked into the kitchen. As Hale approached the fridge, ready to make an attempt to raid it, I spotted a note on the counter.

"Hey, Hale. Take a look!" He sauntered over and looked at the note as I read it aloud.

_Dear Hale and Hikari,_

_I left to go fetch some groceries, so don't fret if you get home and I'm not there. Also, tonight we're having some Chinese, so I'm going to order some takeout. I hope you two checked with your teacher about this "talent show" you two are having. Make sure you guys put away your laundry since it's already clean. Be good and take care!_

_Lots of love,_

_Mom_

_P.S. Hale, clean up your room or you won't go to the talent show, even if you already are obliged to go._

I laughed at the last part as Hale gave a sour look at the note. "I'll go call Mr. Folles now and make sure everything's prepped to go."

I called after him as he went to get the phone, "Hale, don't forget to ask him about additional tickets! Maybe like twenty additional tickets would do!"

"Okay!", he yelled back. I heard him dial Mr. Folles' number. Knowing how interesting my brother's conversations are with Mr. Folles even on the phone, this is going to be a long phone call.

I walked up to my room, deciding that a shower was in order. Grabbing my set of pajamas and some clean undergarments, I walked into my personal bathroom and began preparing the shower. About to remove my shorts, I felt something in my pocket poking me. I paused for a minute 'till it hit me.

_'The thing Nawt slipped into my pocket earlier today!'_

I dug into my pocket, seeing it as the perfect opportunity to do so with no one around. I felt something like a box inside of my pocket and pulled it out. It was a red box with a pink silk ribbon wrapped around it. Tucked under the ribbon was a piece of paper, which was actually a note written from Nawt.

I took the note carefully from under the ribbon and unfolded it. I began to read the words from his note aloud to myself, careful as not to let Hale hear me.

_Kari,_

_I wanted to give this gift to you in person, but I can tell your brother isn't that fond of me. I don't blame him, especially after I dribbled him around like a ball and aside from that, you are his younger sister and he's very overprotective of you. He's lucky to have a sibling like you as a best friend. I really do hope I can be a best friend to you as well and maybe..._

_I must ask you not to open this box until after the big game is over. Nothing bad or anything, but it is a special surprise that I wanted to give to you after last night. Just promise not to open it until that time._

_I must thank you again for your kindness. If it weren't for you, I might as well be a pancake.._

_Anyways, I hope to see you more often before the big game. It would give us the opportunity to, well, know each other more._

_See you later tomorrow after practice and I'll try to see if I can introduce at least one of the guys to you. He was the blue one that was with me the night you saved me. _

_Good luck and please take care of yourself._

_From,_

_Nawt_

I felt a small tint of blush and heat rise up to my cheeks after reading the letter. I glanced back at the small box in my hand. I walked out of my bathroom and put the box in my night table drawer where no one else would dare to find it.

"If he insists that I don't open it until the end of the big game, then I won't. Despite that I desperately want to.."

I refrained and closed the drawer. Looking back down at the letter, I couldn't place how I felt that it had a deeper meaning. Sighing, I gave up.

_'I'm only ten years old, for the love of peat! I'll figure what he means later.'_

"Right now, time for a shower.", I said to myself. I opened the same drawer and placed the letter with the box, folding it neatly like it was before. I'm surprised Nawt had tidy handwriting to begin with! He never struck me as the type. I gently closed the drawer and turned back towards the hot running shower.

Smiling warmly to myself, felt the strange feeling of butterflies in my stomach again.

_'What could he possibly be getting at to be so sincere and affectionate? I hardly know him and now he slips a gift meant for me...Is it..?'_

I stepped into the shower, now rinsing my hair with the steaming water. Finally, I confirmed my decision with confidence and contentment.

"Guess I will get to know him more, regardless what Hale says about him."

I still wanted to know what was in that red box, but for now I felt that waiting until the time was right was the best choice. I hummed a tune as I continued my blissful shower. It was a familiar tune, but like my previous thoughts, it too has escaped me.

Butterflies in my stomach, constantly flushing like I have fever, and now my thoughts for the first time seem to either be disorganized or immediately escape me! I closed my eyes in frustration and confusion, letting the water run down my entire body.

_'What's wrong with me..?'_


	10. Ch 10 Nawt's Thoughts

**Chapter 10 is now ready for reading!**

**This chapter, along with 9 will be short chapters. I will do my best and make the next ones longer. I just have some delays with other things in life that have been going on. Enjoy and review! :D**

**I own nothing. The Rodgers family are mine to mix and mold however way I want.**

* * *

**Nawt's POV:**

I spaced out at the sky above me. The guys were busy shooting some hoops and acting all smug about their abilities; the same abilities that we stole from the NBA players.

My mind was flowing with thoughts about my encounters with Kari, especially the first which was last night. Following them to their home wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but I'm not complaining. I thought deeper at how that particular night went..

**Flashback:**

_Everything around felt like it was spinning. I thought I was really gonna get sick until I felt myself come to a stop. Everything was pitch black, but then colors and shapes start making themselves out right before me. I blinked a couple of times just to be sure I wasn't dreaming. Then I froze at what I saw in front of me. Kari was standing right there, her back facing me. She looked like she was about to turn around, so I jumped into the nearest bush on my left. _

_I peeked through the shrub, hoping that she didn't catch on. I saw her glance around for a good minute or so then she retreated into the house. She mumbled something about being really hungry and tired._

_After I was sure she closed and locked the door, I let myself exhale a long breath of relief. "I thought she was gonna see me for sure." I looked out from the bush again, catching sight of a vehicle that was parked in front of her house. Not long after did I see another car approaching down the street and into the driveway. "This is gonna be a long wait.", I said to myself._

_After what seemed like hours of sitting and waiting, I heard water running in the house; it was coming from upstairs. I peeked out again from the bush and noticed two figures walking upstairs in the house; too big to be Hale and Kari. 'I guess those must be their parents. Must be turning in for the night too. Perfect! This makes things seem a whole lot easier.'_

_Poking my head out of the bush, I analyzed the entire area to be sure no one was watching, and thankfully no one indeed was. _

_I jumped out of the bush, but not before pricking myself with something sharp. I winced and looked down to see what it was. The bush I was hiding in neighbored a rose bush that was filled with blooming red roses. I smiled as an idea popped into my head; I carefully took one of the roses, making sure it was the prettiest one. _

_With one last glance around, I ran up to the oak tree that stood in the front lawn, right in front of one of the higher windows. I started to climb up the tree and onto one the sturdiest branches, which turned out to be the one closest to the window where the running water noise came from. Perching myself on the branch, I heard the water stop. I sat there waiting for something else to happen... and it did._

_Kari opened the window and leaned out, her eyes closed and a smile... a gorgeous smile graced her features. I heard her intake air and sighing lightly into the air. She looked so peaceful, so angelic, and she smells sweet. I was too wrapped up in my current thoughts on her that I didn't even notice that I was now in front of her... and I think she noticed too. _

_The soonest she opened her eyes, I quickly covered her mouth with my left hand and motioned her to be quiet. I let myself into her room and from there, I decided to try and voice out my apology and ask for her forgiveness, and in truth it was a pathetic attempt. Or so I thought.._

_She smiled and accepted my apology. I couldn't believe it. "You mean, you don't hate me?"_

_She was caught by surprise and replied no. I felt a warm shower of relief and happiness and something else pour all over my being. My stomach felt like doing flip flops at her smile and the light that dances when I looked into her eyes. _

_'She is truly amazing.'_

_She then introduced herself to me, although I already knew her name and she voiced out that fact._

_I shrugged. "It's still worth and introduction. Mine's Nawt."_

_She gazed at me with confusion. I chuckled to myself. I don't expect her to know my name off the bat the first time, so I said it again and spelled it so it would be easier to understand. _

_Kari complimented on my name, declaring that it was unique. It took every ounce of strength and self control at that moment not to jump and embrace her right then and there. Suddenly, I heard the door swing open and I looked up to see who it was. Hale was standing right there, he mouth wide agape and his eyes ready to roll out of his skull by how wide they were. _

_Kari pulled him in as he struggled to ask for some answers. She began to explain how I was here to apologize for everything that occurred that day, then she turned to me while I was sitting on her bed, asking me how in the world did I get here in the first place. I pulled out the necklace that was similar to theirs. She turned back to her brother and continued to reason with him._

_I took the chance and opportunity to carefully place the rose on her bed covers, and it was simple since her bed covers were a pattern of flowers. Then I heard Hale ask me aggressively if I was here to sabotage their plan to help the Tunes. _

_'Honestly Hale, since when would I stoop that low? I take it back; you deserved to be dribbled like a basketball.'_

_I then began to explain that I didn't come to do that, but to warn them and give them some meaningful advice to avoid further trouble. After I gave them my warning, Kari asked me why I gave them such information. I looked at her, smiling and told her that it was for her sake and safety. I then took my leave out of her window, promising to see her again, and Hale too of course, after basketball practice. Grabbing my charm, I soon found myself in a bright light and disappeared back to Looney Tune Land. I was in front of the warehouse, so I didn't need to worry about the guys waking up ad going frantic. I walked back to the abandoned house near the warehouse and slept a very peaceful sleep that night._

**End Flashback:**

I couldn't bear it if something happened to her. That would ruin me! Ever since we came to this rock, I only thought about the mission: capture and bring the Tunes to Moron Mountain for profit. But after what happened that night and Kari deciding to save me instead of letting me get squashed, the mission became a minor priority to me. No one has ever risked their life to save mine and Kari was the first to do so. Yes, she had the choice of not saving me, but she did so anyways. I confirmed it so when I asked her for _her_ well being, although she pointed out that it was _me_ who should have been asked that question. She was selfless and caring.

Even after today, after I walked in on her and heard her sing, I felt like my heart strings were ready to snap. Snapping not from sadness, but from how much I am drawn to her; how her energy, personality and physical being attracted me.

None of the guys ever caught wind of me sneaking off to see her, except for Blanko; then again, he was the only one who knew about how I felt towards Kari.

I looked up to see Blanko himself looming over, leaning on a tree for support. "So did you give it to her?"

I sat up bewildered. "Wait, what?"

_'Just the way you phrased it made it sound like I'm some sort of pedophile... which I'm not!'_

Blanko shook his head. "The gift that you made for her? Did you give it over to her in person?", he repeated more specifically, but softly enough so Pound, Bang and Bupkus wouldn't hear.

_'Oh, right... that.'_

"Oh, yeah. I snuck it into her pocket; her brother showed up at the last minute." I replied with some disappointment in my voice.

Blanko raised his brows. "That kid is stuck to her like glue, huh?"

"It's her older brother. He's very overprotective of her.. and he doesn't trust me in the least." He glanced up at him, now standing on my feet.

"Well yeah, you did dribble him around like no tomorrow and tossed him over to Bang. It was pretty funny though." He chuckled.

I couldn't help but laugh myself. It was a hilarious situation.

"So, you're gonna introduce me to them tomorrow?", Blanko asked, sounding like a kid who's asking for a toy he wanted for Christmas.

"Yes, Blanko. You'll be introduced." I affirmed.

Blanko scratched the top of his head, "But what about Pound and the other guys? You can't keep this away from them forever."

I stayed silent for a good while. I know I can't keep it a secret from those three for long. Eventually, they will find out. Then an idea popped into my head.

"Hey, Blanko! I may need your help on this. Come here."

I whispered into his ear my idea. His eyes bulged and looked at me like I swallowed a dozen jalapeno peppers.

"Are you sure? I mean, it's worth a shot, but Pound is gonna want a huge explanation for this."

I nodded and gave him a look of certainty. "I'm aware of that. But it's better now than never, and waiting any longer will eventually bring out more problems."

Blanko nodded slowly, the information being processed into his thoughts. "Alright. I'm in. So when do we tell them?"

I glanced at him as we both started making our way to the court to practice with our three compadres. "Tonight. I'll tell them tonight."

_'I'm sure Bang and Bupkus will be shocked but take it alright. It's Pound's reaction about my feelings to Kari that worries me..'_

I prayed as we tossed the ball to one another. As I dunked, I hoped that my prayers would be answered and that all will go smoothly when I confront the other three about my growing feelings towards Kari and the events of her saving me that night.


	11. Ch 11 Headlines and Unexpected Surprises

**Chapter 11 is now here!**

**I own nothing. The Rodgers family, however, is mine. Drum roll, please!**

* * *

I finished my shower and dressed up in my pajamas, still thinking about what is inside that box that Nawt slipped into my pocket. Despite that I want to look inside and see what he gave me, I refrained.

I trust Nawt's word and his intentions...

_'But it's just so tempting! No fair!'_

I shook my head and reprimanded myself for being so selfish. I knew I had to wait until the time was right, so I finished drying my hair and took off downstairs. Hale was downstairs watching the television. At first I didn't know what he was watching until I walked up behind him from the sofa.

"Hey, Hale. What's going on?"

Hale glanced at me with a worried expression. "It's the news. Listen to this!"

He boosted up the volume as the newscaster came on with the headline: 'Basketball Season: Canceled'

My mind seemed to have blow into a million pieces right there. We listened as the newscaster describing that after getting X-rays, MRI's, EKG's, and a variety of medical treatments, nothing seemed to cure the NBA players of their current states. As a final statement, the newscaster then announced that according to public officials that until they could guarantee the health and safety of their players, that there would be no more basketball this season.

Hale turned off the TV as they switched crew members. He then threw his hands up and shouted in frustration.

"Can you believe this? Now there won't be anymore basketball this season!"

I couldn't believe it either. My brother and I are big time basketball fans and we used to play non stop before we were crammed with constant studying and not to mention Hale's soccer practice and my singing lessons.

Hale buried his head in his hands. "Now what are we gonna do, Kari? What's gonna happen to basketball now?"

I opened my mouth, but closed it again. I couldn't form any words that could help to console my dear brother, let alone myself.

_'I wish I knew the answer, Hale. Trust me. I'm just as worried and destroyed as you are..'_

Thinking quickly, I tried to see if I was able to switch the subject.  
"Hey, what did Mr. Folles say about the extra tickets? Did you explain to him about our basketball game that we have on the very same day?"

Hale lifted his head up and looked at me, sorrow still lingering in his eyes.

"Yeah. He said it was a surprise that we needed that many, but he's cool with it. The more people, the merrier. As for the game, he was slightly concerned about it cutting into our rehearsal time, but I told him that we will manage practice sessions for our part on the weekends, including Friday until the day of the game and the talent show. He agreed and then simply said he'll give us the extra tickets this weekend when we see him for rehearsal."

For some particular reason, I felt hope shimmering in my heart. Somehow, I felt that everything will manage out alright.

Hale seems to have caught on to that too from just looking at me.

"Kari?"

I blinked and then smiled at him. "Don't worry, Hale. I believe that somehow, we can get things back to how they once were."

His eyes grew a bit wide. "How can you say that? Are you sure?"

"Well," I took his hand and gripped it, "I can't exactly say that they will be a hundred percent the same as they were before, but what I mean is.. that we can't give up. If we help the Tunes win this game, then surely things should go back to how they were for the NBA and for us too. We may not be able to just forget all this, but we gotta try to make the most of it. You know?"

Just knowing how Hale is and his personality makes me so happy and lucky that he's my brother. He gripped my hand back with a winner's smirk plastered across his face. "You're right. We can do this!"

He got up and for the first time in a while, embraced me in a hug. An awkward hug, but a hug nonetheless.

"Thanks, Kari. You always seem to be a light for everyone when things go down and dark."

I patted his back. "It's nothing, really."

* * *

Later that evening after Hale finished his shower, mom came home with some Chinese take out like she promised in her note. Hale and I took the liberty of putting away our laundry and Hale spent a good hour and a half cleaning out his entire room. I glanced a peek at his room after we finished dinner and I helped our mom put away groceries, and my jaw almost hit the floor.

_'Sweet merciful Aphrodite, it's actually CLEAN!'_ I carefully walked into my room, not making a sound so as to not have Hale jump at me for staring obliviously at his now impeccable domain.

Dad came home late, saying that some of his workers were slacking off and he had extra paperwork to file. It was not long after until mom and dad decided to turn in for the night, leaving me and Hale awake in the house, though exhausted and beat from the minimal chores we just accomplished.

Hale walked over to my doorway and leaned against the door frame.

"So we have two weeks, huh?"

I stared up at my ceiling in thought. "Yep. Two weeks until the show.. and the game."

He nodded. "Kari, no matter what, we can't lose. We have to try our best and like you said, make the most of it."

I sat up and nodded at him. "I know. The Tunes are counting on us."

With that being said, Hale bid me goodnight and left into his room, closing the door behind him. I got up and closed my door. Sighing, I turned around and glanced at the rose sitting in the vase on my vanity.

_'Hale's right, we can't hold back either, even if it means going all the way. This had better work.. for the sake of the NBA, the Tunes, and ourselves.'_

I sauntered over to my bed and tucked myself underneath the covers. Switching off my night table lamp, I closed my eyes, hoping that a miracle somehow works out in all of this madness.

* * *

Morning came fairly quick, and I was somewhat glad about it. I got up and decided to get dressed. I glanced at my clock. It read 7:13, which was pretty early in my opinion, considering we were on summer vacation.

I put on a pair of boot-cut jeans, a black shirt with five white stars on the front, some white ankle socks and my black converses. I quickly brushed out my short hair and placed my necklace on and then took my leave. As I opened my door, I noticed Hale was already awake since he wasn't in his room. I took a head start downstairs and saw him eating a bowl of cereal with an apple and some orange juice. His hair was naturally spiked up in his usual fashion and wore his navy blue Tony Hawk shirt, jeans, and his white Nike's.

Happily, I joined him with a banana I grabbed from the fruit bowl on the counter top and a bowl of Frosted Flakes with a glass of orange juice. We bid each other good morning and downed our breakfast as quickly as possible. He informed me that he already told mom and dad that we were going to go to the park again for more exercise.

"You know we have to tell them sooner or later, Hale. We can't keep our basketball meetings a secret from mom and dad forever."

He looked at me with acknowledgment. "I know. We'll tell them tonight, but we can't mention about the Tunes or the Monstars. At least, not right away."

"Okay." I knew where Hale was coming from and I don't blame him.

He grabbed his necklace and I grabbed mine as we got outside and locked our front door. Nodding in unison to one another, we grabbed the blue gems and in a flash, we disappeared.

* * *

We arrived to Looney Tune Land and right in front of the gymnasium, but with a notice on the gym doors.

Hale walked up to the door and took down the notice, reading it aloud.

"_Kari and Hale,_

_Sorry if this seems out of proportion. Today's practice is canceled due to Daffy crashing into the bleachers and somehow caused the bleachers to fall apart. We are currently working on getting them repaired, so practice will have to be put off 'till next week Tuesday. Feel free to swing by anytime though!_

_From,_

_Bugs Bunny_

_P.S. There's an outside court you guys can still use if you want to shoot some hoops for your own satisfaction. Sorry for the inconvenience, docs!_

"Is it me, or is everyone dissing us with notes?", Hale wondered out loud. I looked around 'till I caught sight of the outside court just a couple yards away.

"Hale! There's the court! Why don't we just take Bugs' word and just warm up ourselves? It'll at least help our boost of confidence when we get into the big game."

He glanced over where the court was and nodded. "M'kay. I still think everyone is just giving us notes for kicks."

_'I may have to disagree with you on that matter. It's just you...'_

We walked over to the court, setting down the basketball. "Well, I say we get started. Don't ya think so Kari?"

I agreed. We started off with some warm up stretching to flex our muscles and avoid cramping. After that, Hale was the first to shoot and from there, we passed the ball to one another, dribbling and taking turns for defense and offense moves. Little did both of us know that we were being watched.

* * *

**Third Person POV:**

From afar, the Monstars were watching Hale and Kari practice moves and shots. To say the least, all of them were very impressed, even Pound.

"Did you see that?", Bupkus said, completely astounded by their way of play.

"Yeah! Those kids are better than we thought!", erupted Bang, his eyes ogling from what he was seeing.

Nawt was shocked himself. He knew they were practicing and giving it their best, but now just seeing them merely practicing and by how both of them displayed their efforts so far made him speechless.

Blanko was just as astounded as the rest of them. He heard from Nawt that the girl was pretty cool, but he didn't expect her to be _this_ good, and even the brother surprised him!

And after all this time, they thought he was a useless little shrimp!

Pound, out of all, was the most stunned. _'Since when did these two pipsqueaks become pros? How is this even possible?'_

Snapping out of his stupor, he grinned a mischievous grin. "Come on, boys! Let's show those babies some REAL basketball moves!"

Bang and Bupkus glanced at Pound and smirked themselves. Blanko nodded but gave an unsure look towards Nawt, who seemed just as nervous. Nawt gave a nod, still worried about the outcome of his idea. He hoped deep down that Pound won't do something rash towards the kids.

"Well Kari, I think we deserve a little recess, don't you agree?" Hale asked his sister as they panted to catch some breath.

"I don't think so, little brat!" Pound's deep voice boomed right behind Hale, causing him to be startled, as well as Kari.

They turned about and saw before them the Monstars looming over them with cocky grins; all except Blanko and Nawt who gave them nervous looks.

"You're gonna be playing with the big boys now!", laughed Bang, pounding his fist into his hand. Bupkus chortled and Pound flashed his sharp teeth at them. Blanko stood there unsure of what to do or how to act.

Hale gave a look of determination; as if he was daring them to try him and his sister in a round of basketball.

Kari gave a worried glance towards Nawt, as if asking him, 'What are _they_ doing here?'

Nawt gave her a similar look, all while wondering if he did the right thing by bringing them here.

Pound's grin grew with more devious intent. _'This is gonna be fun...'_


	12. Ch 12 More Secrets to Burden

**I'm back with Chapter 12 in tow!**

**I own the Rodgers family. Nothing else, not even the coupons for my favorite restaurant that I got in the mail yesterday. Sad, huh?**

**Enjoy the mayhem; I know I certainly will.**

* * *

Hale and I stared up at the oversized aliens looming above us. I could tell my brother was somewhat scared, and knowing him, he will never admit it and wear a mask of bravery to hide it.

I glanced over at Nawt, who was giving me a look of concern.

_'Well, I knew he was gonna bring the big blue guy, but he didn't say anything about bringing the rest of them!'_

The huge orange one grabbed the basketball, grinning with a look that says he's challenging us.

"Well, you babies gonna play or you gonna run home crying?", he snorted boastfully.

The purple and green guys muttered in agreement. Nawt kept exchanging his glances from me and the orange guy.

"Challenge accepted. We'll play against ya.", Hale said bravely. For a guy who got pushed around the most by the Monstars, my brother definitely has the stars aligned in his favor as a born leader. I still can't believe I got the title captain instead of him, but he insisted.

"Two against five? I like those odds." I said, standing next to Hale with as much courage as I could muster.

With that said, the orange Monstar threw the ball up, initiating the start of his challenge. I jumped up the highest I could and grabbed the ball. I dribbled passed the green alien, followed by the purple. With determination, I took the ball and dunked it in their hoop.

"How did she-?"', the purple one said, cut off by Hale's own comeback as I passed the ball over to him. Hale dribbled the ball here and there, running circles past the tall blue alien and zipped by Nawt. He almost got knocked over by the orange one, but gracefully dodged by an inch and took his chance. Hale dunked the ball into the hoop, giving us the upper hand in this match.

The Monstars stood there completely baffled. Nawt smirked to himself, knowing now all too well of what we were capable of when it comes to basketball.

The game went on like this for the next five minutes; the Monstars scored a couple of shots, but we managed all the rest. At last when we won the final round, they tossed in the towel.

"Alright! You two win! Guess we underestimated ya after all.", the orange one cried in exasperation.

Nawt couldn't help but extend his grin even more. Clearly he was amused by this display of humiliation that his leader is putting up.

Hale stood up straight and picked up his ball. "So does this mean we won your challenge?"

They nodded their heads in unison.

"So then will you guys stop calling us 'babies'?", I then put in, rubbing the sore just a bit.

They all sighed in agreement. "After how you guys played just now, we _know_ you're not babies.", the purple one commented.

Hale and I exchanged grins and high-five each other. Nawt got up and walked over towards us.

"You two were really good! I think you made a huge impression on all of us!"

We couldn't help but blush at his comment. Hale crossed his arms and gave a cocky look. "Well, it was nothing really. Though I guess we showed you guys how great we can-"

I cut him off before he could go overboard. "You guys did a good job too! It was a pretty fair game, even if it's just for kicks."

The Monstars gave a mixture of flushed faces, smirks, and murmurs of thanks. The orange one then got up and walked over to us, holding out his hand, "Name's Pound. Good game there, Kari."

I looked at him baffled. "H-how do you know my name?"

I glanced at Nawt, who gave me a knowing smile. Ah, that explains it.

"Nawt told us. He even told us about sneaking off to see ya, as well as other things." He gave a disapproving look towards Nawt, causing him to shrink back from Pound.

"Yeah, I'm Blanko. Cool moves, dude." The blue one walked over commenting towards us.

The green one introduced himself as Bang and the purple one as Bupkus. Hale and I made our own introductions, despite that they already knew our names thanks to Nawt.

After all of us got acquainted, we asked how they all knew where to find us and why all of them showed up when we were only expecting Nawt and Blanko.

"Like I said, Nawt told us about you two and let's just say that last night was a long night of talk and hardly any sleep.", Pound finally put in.

_'Guess that explains why they're so easily exhausted. Looks like we won't be so lucky like we were today when the big game comes.'_

"More like a long night of shouts. You almost made it into a scream fest." Bupkus mentioned.

Pound glared at Bupkus.

"Could you blame me? This surprising issue is hardly an understatement and trust me, I had my reasons to get upset."

I tilted my head in confusion. "Huh?" Hale gave a skeptical look at them. "What issue?"

Nawt waved his hands around nervously. "It's nothing! Don't worry about it!"

I wanted to ask, but I left it alone. I didn't think it was worth the argument. Hale kept his skeptical glance, but shrugged it off.

"Anyway, Nawt convinced us to tag along. He claimed you guys were better than our first impression of you, so we wanted to see if what he was saying was true. Turns out he was.", Bang finished.

I was slightly taken aback from that comment. _'So Nawt was trying to help us. Ha! Take that, Hale!'_

Hale, however, didn't seem all too fazed by that and kept his ground. Something was bothering him about them, but he couldn't figure out what.

After all that was said, the Monstars challenged us to one more game. We mutually agreed and played against them once more, out scoring them again. At the end of the game, it was around two in the afternoon, and they were completely worn out.

We grabbed our ball and decided to head back home early to see about getting the tickets ahead of time. Hale considered it, seeing as how lately I seemed to be forgetting things.

_'How does he know? Is he spying on me?'_

I grew a little worried about my brother possibly noticing how I have been acting early but decided not to show it at the moment.

Nawt and the rest of the Monstars bid us farewell, with Nawt whispering in my ear, "I'll see you later this evening."

I blushed lightly and nodded, holding in my sudden excitement.

Waving goodbye fro the day, Hale and I grabbed our purple gems and disappeared into the bright light emanating from it.

* * *

**Third Person POV:**

Once Kari and Hale left, Pound walked over to Nawt, still giving a look of disapproval.

"Nawt, I'm still not happy about this."

Nawt didn't look at him, but acknowledge him nonetheless. "Pound, they're not that bad. _She's_ not that bad!"

Pound shook his head. "They're still the enemy. I don't think it's wise to linger around them too much, especially that girl."

Nawt then turned around, anger etched on his features. "Why not? She hasn't done any harm, and although they did chase us, she saved me! Did you forget that?"

Blanko, Bang and Bupkus never saw Nawt this mad before. For as long as they knew him, Nawt was never the one to lose his temper. He was always mellow, a tad mischievous, or just bopping around and goofing off. But never had they seen him this mad or this serious before in their lives.

Pound was slightly taken aback, but refused to back down. "Saved you or not, that girl is still our opponent. Just cause she saved you, doesn't mean she cares, Nawt. I don't want her and that brother of hers to be weight that will only drag us down!"

Nawt replied hotly, "She _isn't_ dragging us down, Pound! And she's not heartless like _you_ think she is!

She is kind, selfless, and different.._ much different_! She's the only light that I have seen in so long; she's not just my savior, she's my friend and much _more_ than that!"

Pound stared at Nawt with wide eyes. Blanko was in a stupor like a deer caught in headlights. Bang stared with a shocked expression and couldn't believe his ears and Bupkus looked like his jaw was about to drop off from his skull at any given time.

With that said, Nawt stormed off from the other Monstars, walking off into the now late afternoon. He wandered off to a clearing of grass and flowers, which was a good distance from the rest of the group.

He sighed and laid back, taking in the scent of all the wildflowers around him. "They don't know her... Not even close.."

Nawt closed his eyes, hoping for nightfall to descend quickly so he could go see her; the light that illuminated his life for the first time in who knows how long.

Meanwhile, Pound was sitting with the other Monstars, still in a stupor of what they just heard from Nawt.

"Dude, don't ya think you were a little harsh towards him?" Blanko blatantly stated.

Pound inhaled then exhaled deeply, rubbing a hand down his face. "I did what I had to. At least, what I felt was right for him.. and us."

"Well, it's clear as day that he feels something for that girl." Bupkus commented, looking up at the indigo sky now settling down upon them.

Bang shook his head. "Something? I never seen him act like that before and neither have you guys! That girl has him wrapped around his finger, I'm telling ya!"

"This is blasphemy. I mean, Nawt has his reasons and he is right; that girl isn't hurting anyone, but it's crazy. It's like he- he.." Pound struggled to find words to describe what was going on with his friend, but couldn't.

"He's in love. Just admit it Pound. Nawt is head over heals for Kari, and you _know_ it." Blanko defended, finding the words that Pound would hate to reveal.

"But isn't she just a kid?", Bang asked in terror.

Bupkus shook his head. "Nawt's aware of that, I'm sure. But I think he also knows how to approach that situation as well. It's like he found an answer for that problem already. Otherwise, he wouldn't have been so sure; to _sound and act_ so sure."

Pound groaned, not sure of how to handle that idea that one of their team members is a fated victim of amour.

"I just hope that certainty he has won't get in the way of our strive to win the game two weeks from now.. Cause that would mean trouble.. for _all_ of us."

The rest of them nodded in understanding of what Pound was referring to. They agreed to keep a tight lid of this little mishap from ever getting out. The last thing they needed is Swackhammer bringing down the hammer on them all...

including the kids.


	13. Ch 13 Sibling Authority and More News!

**Chapter 13 is ready to roll!**

**I own nothing. Only The Rodgers Family. Now here we go!**

**Many thanks to those who reviewed! I truly appreciate it! :D**

* * *

Nightfall was already settling in on the beautiful horizon, and dinner was already prepared to be served. Hale's expression didn't change the slightest. Well, he seemed a bit more mellow, but he still looked pretty skeptical about the whole ordeal with what happened earlier today with the Monstars. I asked him about it, but he told me it was probably nothing much to worry about.

There are some things that even my brother isn't willing to share with me, especially if it bugged him enough.

Dinner was a tad more quiet than it normally would go by as. Mom and dad seemed to have caught on to the awkward silence among us, so they decided to break the silence.

"So how was your guys' time at the park? Did you have fun shooting hoops?", dad asked us.

Hale shrugged. "It was alright. Just practicing for a game we have in two weeks."

Mom glanced at the both us surprised. "What game?"

I mentally slapped myself on the forehead. _'Way to go, Hale...'_

Hale realized what he said a little too late and tried to hide his surprised look. I quickly intervened, seeing as we had no other choice now but to tell them. We had to tell them anyways sooner or later, so I supposed fate chose it to be tonight.

"We have a basketball game in two weeks from now on a Friday, the same night we have our talent show performance. We already talked to Mr. Folles about it, and he said he's cool with it."

Dad and mom exchanged surprised glances. Dad then spoke up. "Well, this is new. Just who are you playing against?"

Seeing no other way, I decided to tell them the truth.. well, partially.

"We are having a game against these guys called the Monstars. They're pretty cool and out of this world."

_'Literally...'_, I mentally said.

"Well, they seem pretty interesting. Are these 'Monstars' new friends of yours?", mom asked getting excited about the topic. Guess I know where I got my giddiness from...

"You could say that. They're the opposing team, so we're helping some other friends of ours to win a game against them. They had a sort of bet going on and the team we're on insisted on us helping them since we have more expertise in the sport."

Hale gawked at me like I ate a live chicken, feathers and all. I was astounded myself. I couldn't believe I was telling mom and dad all this already and somehow managed to leave the major details out without them catching on.

"Well, that's very kind of you two. Helping out your friends and taking your time to practice with them. What's the bet about?", Dad put in, taking a sip of his iced tea.

Hale took lead this time. "It's like the whole winner takes all kind of gig. If we win, then we get to do whatever we want and not be bossed around by the opposing side. The Monstars were acting like bullies, so instead of resorting to violence, we decided to settle this in a civilized manner."

"And we chose basketball.", I finished for him. Now it was my turn to look at Hale with disbelief. _'Okay, this needs to stop. Lately, we both have been doing everything completely controversial to what we would normally do as the legitimate RIGHT thing to do!'_

"Well, it seems you two know how to make fast friends, even out of your own enemies." Mom said with a smile.

Hale scowled at that remark. "It wasn't me. Kari was the one who befriended the Monstars. I still think they're bullies."

Our mom laughed and shook her head. "Hale, you think almost _everyone_ that is against you or your sister is a bully. We're proud that you're taking your role as an older brother seriously and that you always watch over your little sister, but don't you think you might be a little too conspicuous about them? If Kari's able to make friends with them, why not you?"

Hale crossed his arms and slumped a bit in his chair. "Not my fault if one of them likes my sister..", he mumbled. Unfortunately, we all caught what he said and I was deterred by it.

"Wait, one of them likes Kari? Do I have to go get my shotgun? How old is he? My little baby!", Dad started flipping his turd right there on the spot. My mom scolded dad instantly.

"Alphonse! Relax! So who is he, Kari? Is he cute?"

I sat there speechless. What was I supposed to say? Yeah, he is kinda cute, I guess... _'Wait! Stop right there, missy! You're just a flippin' ten year old, first off. Second, Nawt may be way too old for you... or is he? Agh!'_

Hale realized he screwed up for the second time in a row tonight. As he glanced over at me, he froze. I was giving him the biggest scowl and the deadliest glare I could muster. So that's what it was all about? Nawt being nice and friendly to me? What a jerk! Sometimes I think Hale just needs to grow up!

I turned my attention to our parents, trying to fix the misunderstanding. "He's just a friend, dad. Don't worry. Mom, I'm too young for that stuff! All of them are really nice, and this guy just happens to be nicer towards me. Nothing else."

Mom nodded, still happy about it. Dad seemed to have finally calmed down, and smiled. "Well, I'm glad he's nice to you, sweetheart. But if he tries anything-!"

I cut him off. "He won't, dad. We're just really good friends, and again, I'm a little too young for that kind of mush. You have years until you can worry about that." Dad flushed up a storm and nodded, making my mom laugh her heart out.

Dinner was son over as we placed our dishes into the dishwasher. I gave my thanks for the meal and told our parents that I was going to go shower and turn in for the night. As quickly as I could, I sprinted up to my room before Hale could catch up to me.

I closed my door and locked it. Very soon after did I hear Hale knocking on my door, begging me to open it for him.

"Please, Kari! I'm sorry! I didn't mean to say that, really! It just slipped out!"

I frowned, not giving in to his wimpy cries. "Forget it! I can't believe you, Hale! If this was about Nawt, then I'm sorry, but you need to get over that and grow up! He's been nothing but nice to us and even bothered to apologize, but you can't let it go, can you? Why can't you trust him like I do?"

My eyes felt like they were burning, but I held back the watery storm that was gonna emerge from them. There was a small silence behind my door until after a minute that Hale soon started to speak again.

"It isn't that. I mean, I know he said he was sorry and I forgive him but-"

"No, you don't! You're still mad at him! The other Monstars, I can probably understand, but come on! What is it about him that you don't like?" I protested.

".. You mean you don't notice, Kari?", he said behind my door. I shuffled my feet, trying to hold back the flood of emotions that was currently parading through my body.

"Notice what..? What are you talking about, Hale?" My voice cracked. _'Dang it, Kari! Pull yourself together! You can't act like this!'_

I waited for a response. Finally I got it, and it shocked me.

"Nawt _likes_ you. That's what I don't like. That's why I don't trust him. You're my younger sister, Kari... and.. I don't want to see you get hurt.."

My mind at that moment stopped working. His words echoed through my ears, making silent tears fall down my cheeks.

"But still..." I choked out. "_Why_...?"

Once again, as if he just read my mind and knew what I was asking for, answered but with pain laced in his breaking voice.

"It wouldn't be fair if the one light that keeps this house lit would be snuffed out all cause of one guy. That _my_ light would be snuffed out... and if that happened... that it wouldn't be able to light up again like it always did..."

Around five minutes or so passed until I unlocked the door and gripped my brother in a bone crushing hug. He hugged back with equal force and emotion.

_'All this time, he was just worried for my sake... Hale, you can be such a retard..'_

I pulled back and wiped my tears away. I looked at him and could tell his eyes were glassy, but no tears spilled from them. Macho man.

"So, uh, are we cool?", he asked giving a wry smile. I could tell he felt bad for acting the way he did, but I knew he did it just to make sure I was out of harms way.

"Yeah. Frosting." I assured him with the smile that gets just about anybody.

Suddenly, we heard someone knocking on my window and both of us turned to see who it was. To our surprise, it was Nawt _and_ Bugs!

I rushed over to open the window for them while Hale secured my bedroom door, making sure that our parents wouldn't catch them. They both jumped into my bedroom, allowing me to close my window and pull the blinds so that no one outside can see.

"Heya docs! Did we come at a bad time?", Bugs asked, munching on a carrot. We shook our heads no, then I went over and hugged Bugs then Nawt.

"So what's up? Why are you two here?", Hale asked eying them with curiosity. I knew Nawt wanted to come see me, but having Bugs here was completely unexpected.

Nawt sighed. "We got a problem. It's about the game deadline."

We looked at him surprised. "What happened? It's still going, isn't it?"

Bugs finished off his carrot then added, "Well, you see, Nawt here and I had a chat and he informed me that the game will now be moved to a week from now instead of two. It's still gonna be on a Friday, but that reduces the amount of time that we have for drills and practice."

Hale and I stood speechless. A week? That's so little time to get the Tunes prepped up! Just when we thought we had more time.

"Although on the bright side... it means that the game wouldn't interfere with our talent show audition.", Hale said analytically. But he spoke too soon... _way_ too soon.

"Hale! Kari! Can you come here for a minute? Mr. Folles just called and it's about your audition!", our mother called.

Everyone in the room looked as if their blood just ran cold. Bugs and Nawt glanced at us nervously, hoping not to get discovered by the adults. I swallowed hard and decided to spread some action.

"I'll go check. You stay here with Nawt and Bugs."

Hale nodded in acknowledgment. "Okay. Take as much time as you need so they won't come upstairs. Tell them I'm- uh.. looking for a spider in your room!"

I gawked at him. _'Don't jinx it, Hale... I hate spiders..'_ He motioned me quickly to leave before mom and dad get suspicious, so I left.

I reached downstairs and walked to the TV room, where dad was watching the news and mom was sewing a pair of dad's slacks.

"Where's your brother?" mom asked.

"He's looking for a spider that I found in my room." I said bitterly. Lord, I hope he doesn't jinx me with the whole spider crap!

"Oh, boy. I hope he finds it soon. Anyway, your teacher just called. The audition deadline has just been moved.", she said.

My eyes boggled at her. "What? To when?" I prayed to the higher power, hoping that it wasn't going to be next Friday like the game.

"Next Friday.", my mom replied.

Prayer denied.

"His daughter is going to visit a college in Virginia that she got admitted to on the weekend the original date of the audition was scheduled for. So he arranged with the committee to have the show take place a week prior.", she explained. "Why? Is everything alright?"

I just stared at her in disbelief. Then I took a swing and asked, "Is it the same time as the original time, at least?"

Mom nodded, looking concerned. "Is something wrong, Hikari?"

I shook my head. "Nope. Everything's fine."

In my head, I was thinking otherwise.

_'Now what do we do?'_

* * *

**Third Person POV:**

As soon as Kari left the room, Hale closed the door and turned to face the Tune and Monstar standing in the room with him.

"Okay. She's gonna go check what's going on about the show. Now, I wanna say a few things here, and sorry if you're gonna hear this Bugs."

Bugs gave a surprised look, but shrugged.

Hale looked over at Nawt. "I know and I'm _fully_ aware of your feelings towards my sister, Nawt."

Bugs' eyes widened in shock about this news flash and looked over at Nawt, who was sweating bullets with eyes equally wide as Bugs.

Hale stepped up and lifted a finger at him. "I'll give you a chance at this, but hear me: should you _dare_ hurt my sister in _any _way, I'll hunt you down and kill you then taxidermy you, got it?"

Nawt nodded, already comprehending the consequences should he not take caution of his actions when around Kari. Bugs glanced back at Hale then at Nawt, curiosity getting the better of him. "Eh, well doc, that's, eh, new.. I didn't know you had feelings for Kari."

Nawt rubbed the back of his head, smiling nervously but then gave a serious look. "Please don't say a word to anyone else." Bugs nodded. "My lips are sealed. I won't say a word. But I'll be keeping an eye out, just so ya know."

Nawt nodded in compliance. He then looked at Hale, and Bugs did as well. "Does she know how I feel towards her?"

Hale shook is head, "I think she still doesn't really know. I mean, she knows you like her, but thinks just as a friend. I don't think she still grasps the concept of the _like_ you're referring to."

Hale, Nawt and Bugs agreed to keep this among themselves, and also agreed to keep Kari from knowing, at least, for the time being.

At that moment, they were all startled by a knock on Kari's door. Hale leaned against it and asked, "Who is it?"

"It's me, bro. Open up.", hearing Kari's voice. He cracked the door ajar, checking that it was Kari. He let her in the room, her face glum and shocked at the same time.

"What happened? What did Mr. Folles tell mom?", he asked, worried from the look on her face.

"Hale, the show's deadline has changed." she said numbly.

Nawt and Bugs exchanged shocked glances with one another then looked at her with the same amount of worry as Hale.

"Wait, what? How! When is it?" Hale asked frantically.

Kari raised her eyes so she would have eye contact with the people around her. "Next Friday, after the game."

Hale stared completely stupefied, and so did Nawt and Bugs.

"Talk about a small world after all, huh?", Bugs said., "We'll work it out. We can do this, the game and your guys' talent show, so don't worry."

We gave him a small smile and Nawt as well, hoping that it does work out.

_'I'm sure you're right, Bugs. Let's hope we can survive this cramming schedule work to the end.'_, Kari thought with every ounce of faith she had.


	14. Ch 14 Fortune Telling and Song Ideas

**Chapter 14, now ready to serve. I own only the Rodgers Family. I don't even own Pandora radio... Le weep! **

**Let the reading commence.**

* * *

Meanwhile, the NBA players became frustrated with everything they tried and not one single thing worked to find out what's wrong with them.

It was then that they decided to meet with a fortune teller by the name of Yasmina to help solve their problem and to find out the reason why they can't play.

Meeting at her shop, they went inside and sat at a round table with a crystal ball.

There Yasmina entered the room and informed them, "I know you five have problems and that you wonder why you can't play. I can't find a cure, but I will be able to tell you why your talents are gone."

Charles sighed in defeat, "Yeah, we've been wondering what's happenin'."

"Give me your hands, and I will find the answers you seek.", Yasmina said.

The five players held hands in the circle and Yasmina began to meditate. She hummed, gazing into her crystal ball with tarot cards laid in a pattern in front of her, which helped in her reading of finding out what's wrong with the players.

Soon, the vision became clear and she gazed into her ball, "I see aliens. Little aliens from outer space. They forced their way inside your bodies and they need your talent to win a basketball game against... Bugs Bunny."

Patrick whispered to Larry, "Bugs Bunny?"

Larry shook his head, unable to grasp it as the truth.

Yasmina continued, "I also see two young children, Hale and Hikari Rodgers."

The players looked among one another with raised brows, murmuring questions about the kids.

Yasmina continued,"They've been sucked down a golf hole by furry creatures a few days ago. They needed the kids to help them win against the alien team, known as 'The Monstars'. One of them seems to have a deeply fond interest in the girl. They seem to be bound by destiny's call."

The vision finished, leaving the players confused and disappointed.

Patrick sighed, "That's it; we're outta here."

Larry sighed, "We're leaving, now."

Charles added, "Thanks for the help, but we'll manage it on our own."

Shawn looked at Muggsy and said, "Let's try some acupuncture."

Muggsy replied, "Good idea. Thanks."

As they left, Charles asked, "Did you guys believe any of that stuff?"

Patrick sighed, "Sounds strange and unbelievable, but it looks like it could've happened. I mean, take a look at us! One minute, we're superstars and the next.. we suck!"

Larry groaned, "Are you kiddin' me? A couple of kids being sucked down a golf hole a couple days ago, Looney Tunes, and aliens sucking away our talents sounds like a pretty lame excuse."

Shawn sighed, "Maybe, or maybe it isn't. Who knows? But we do suck, that's for sure."

The players walked away in confusion and bewilderment about the fortune telling they have received, not aware that everything the woman said was beyond accurate.

* * *

Soon after Bugs and Nawt took their leave, Hale and I got ready for bed. Knowing after a while that Hale was as good as asleep, I stared up at my ceiling in wonderment. I hoped everything is gonna be fine with the new schedule change, and somehow manage it with no problem at all.

* * *

The sun's rays hit my face directly as morning gave me a rude wake up call. I opened my eyes reluctantly, not happy about waking up this early on a Friday.

_'Friday.'Only one week left now._, I thought bitterly. I got my mind to jump start and glanced around my room for no particular reason, until my eyes froze at the wall in front of me.

Right there at the top where the wall meets the ceiling, was a spider about the size of my thumb nail.

"HAAAAAAAAALLEE!", my piercing voice wailed throughout the house, and I swore I heard my dad screaming for his shotgun while my mom was trying to calm him. Also, I heard Hale fall out of his bed, knowing I was gonna kill him for this.

_'Darn you, Hale! You jinxed me!'_

* * *

Today we asked our mom and dad to take us over to the community theater, where Mr. Folles had the extra tickets we needed for our friends. I told Hale to ask for twenty tickets, and twenty tickets we got.

Luckily, we got them for free since we have helped Mr. Folles arrange and set up the stage for the performers to perform and for helping spread fliers about the show, which was a hit success.

They dropped us off and told us that they would be back to pick us up by three in the afternoon. We also had to remind Bugs last night (and Nawt too) that today we had to rehearse for our part of the show. It was part of our agreement as well. Practice for play on weekends, including Friday, and this one was the only one we had to practice, seeing as how everything in our plans have changed without our knowing.

Mr. Folles decided to leave the room briefly so he could refill his cup of coffee. When he left, Hale and I debated as to what our performance song should be.

"You know I'm not that good at singing, Kari. Besides, I'm better at guitar. I think you should try to do the song and I'll help with the instrumentals." Hale grinned, holding up his bass.

I shook my head, completely amused. "Really, Hale? Well, if you insist. But I wonder what our song will be..?"

He gave me a questioning look. "You mean you still don't know? Come on, Kari. You're pretty good at coming up with music. It's been a talent of yours for who knows how long! Just what is it you want to sing about?"

I shrugged. "I honestly don't know. I mean, what _should_ I sing about? If anything, I should be singing something that I am familiar with. You know most songs I sing would go with what I feel in my heart..."

I looked up at him from my sitting viewpoint. Hale gave me a smile, as if saying 'there you go. You got your answer'.

I gave him a cheeky smile. _'How does he always do that, I'll never know.'_

I thought deeply at how I felt, and in all honesty, it was a mix of a variety of emotions. I sorted through them to see which emotion stood out the most at what I felt. Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

Lately, I've been thinking about everything that has been going on this past week. The plan for mini golf, meeting the Tunes,the ultimate game next Friday, the Monstars... and Nawt.

My thoughts for Nawt were what pulled my heart strings the most. I then thought about what happened last night and the heated argument I had with Hale. I then started to replay the words he said last night; the words he told me as to why he didn't accept Nawt to be around me.

Before I knew it, I got up and plugged in the music equipment. Hale glanced at me with confusion and surprise. I grabbed a few sheets of music paper and began writing words down. After that, I looked over at Hale with a thanking smile.

He looked baffled. "Kari, what's gotten into-" I broke him off with a hug and whispered my idea of the song.

Hale gave me a long look of shock and bewilderment, but then smiled and nodded. He then began synthesizing the keyboards and worked on the drums, recording the rhythm of the song in the order I told him to. It made it a lot easier, especially since Hale and I can read each other off very easily and understand each others meanings and thoughts.

Hale was good with any musical instrument, and that's what made him great for the job to help me out for the song piece we were going to do. The music teacher at our school was also the one who taught Hale how to synthesize music and mix in other instruments, like they do in a professional recording studio. After around fifteen to twenty minutes of recording, editing, and mixing, the majority of the music for our song was complete. We were about to test it out when Mr. Folles came into the room with his refilled mug of coffee.

"Hey you two! What you got there?" he asked curiously. We told him of how we were going to do our piece and asked him to hear our recording of the music we put together with the instruments. Playing over what we synthesized, he was very impressed. "Sounds great! But who's singing?", he asked, thoroughly amazed by what we put together so far.

"Kari is. She's gonna do all the singing." Hale explained.

Mr. Folles raised a brow. "What will you be doing, Hale?" Hale raised his bass guitar. "I didn't record the guitar for a reason. I pitched in the other instruments except for the guitar. I'll need your help to start the recording, even when we perform. Come here, I'll show you!"

Hale instructed Mr. Folles what to do for the session, and he was more than happy to comply. Once he started the recording, Hale and I immediately began our rehearsal. In short terms, it overall stunned mainly Hale and Mr. Folles.

Once the rehearsal was over for our part, Mr. Folles couldn't help but clap his hands in pride and astonishment.

"Bravo! Kari, never in my life had I seen or even _heard_ such beautiful talent! You two will do phenomenal!"

I blushed at his comment and glanced over at Hale, who was at a loss for words himself. He looked at me with wonderment and awe, which caused me to blush up an even bigger storm.

"You did great, sis! Wait till mom and dad hear you on stage and the rest of the guys too!", he said with joyous excitement.

_'I can't wait either, Hale. I hope mom and dad will love it just as much as you and Mr. Folles do... and especially Nawt too.'_

We practiced our song a couple more times and took in between breaks. The rehearsal was an overall success. Mr. Folles was more than certain that we would win the talent show, and even admitted to rooting for us to win it! Talk about irony...

Mom and dad picked us up by 2:45, which was fine by us. As we rode home, mom kept asking what exactly we were going to do for the talent show as our part. Hale insisted that it was a surprise, and by the fifth time he told them, they gave up to waiting until that time to find out what we were doing.

I smiled secretly to myself. The song I chose will certainly wow them all. Even more so for Nawt.

_'Think of it as my gift from me to him, and like me, he has to wait until after the game to know what it is.'_


	15. Ch 15 Days Closing In and Invitations

**Chapter 15 uploaded and ready! I am doing as many chapters as I can tonight. I have myself completely motivated right now, so I'm making the most of it! I own the Rodgers Family. Nothing more, nothing less. I hope I have you all wondering... :) This chapter might be short, but I want to cut the time frame just a bit. Hope you don't mind!**

* * *

The weekend flew by fairly quick, and so did Monday and Tuesday. Throughout Saturday and Sunday, Hale and I went to the community theater to recite our song and make sure there weren't any flaws with the equipment and of course, my voice.

Thankfully, everything went smoothly and without even a hitch. Mr. Folles was, to say the least, very impressed with the song. He asked me later Sunday afternoon when mom and dad were on their way to pick us up as to where I found that song.

I shook my head and told him I thought of it. I told him it came to me as I was sorting out my emotions.

This amazed him even more, saying that I have future talent that many kids my age would dream of having. The same went with Hale when I told him that Hale was the one who mixed the instruments with the synthesizer and balanced them out to make the time duration last long enough for each part.

Hale stormed up a blush that covered his entire face.

I laughed pretty hard, cause his face looked more like a tomato than the face of a human boy.

As for Monday, we met up with the Tunes, now that the gym bleachers were all fixed up again. Apparently, everyone made Daffy fix them but it all backfired, so everyone then had to pitch in to fix them back properly.

Hale and I felt bad, asking them why they didn't ask us to help them out. Bugs insisted that it was alright. He told us that we were helping them out enough as it is with teaching all of them how to play basketball and sporting out in daily drills and practice maneuvers during our free time, let alone partaking in the ultimate game itself against the Monstars.

I couldn't help but to feel in debt to the Tunes for all their support and the friendship they selflessly gave us.

For the entire day, we sported nothing but drills, tag teams to practice against, and of course, discussing possible outlines of how the game might turn out as for when the big game does come.

Hale was very impressed with how I displayed my leadership skills towards the entire Tune division. Bugs asked Hale if he wanted to be co-captain of the team, but Hale turned the offer down.

He told Bugs that if it weren't for him, we wouldn't have ended up in all this, and not in a bad way. Hale insisted that Bugs should be the co-captain of our team, and I could have sworn Bugs almost choked out a tear when we weren't looking.

Nawt showed up later in the last hour of the day before we had to leave for home. We played a round or two of basketball against him and Bugs, who now knew of our friendship with Nawt and agreed to keep it secret until the time was right.

Following on Tuesday was very windy, so we had to wear our windbreakers when we left to Looney Tune Land.

Turns out that Looney Tune Land was also having windy weather, so practice was minimized to half the time we normally played for.

After practice, we decided to stay for a while in the gym with Bugs while all the other Tunes left.

"Eh, so what's on your minds you two? You seem kinda beat." He asked in concern.

Hale glanced at him briefly before continuing to spin his basketball on his finger. "I'm just wondering if we're able to pull this game off! I mean, sure, we've been practicing everyday during our free time practically. But we don't know how much progress the Monstars have on their behalf!"

I kinda wondered the same thing myself. It made me slightly worried as to whether we can beat them or not. But deep down I somehow knew that we can definitely win this.

Bugs shrugged his shoulders. "Since when were you worried about what they're doing or if they have gotten better? You shouldn't be focusing on that. Instead, you should focus on how the efforts of your team and your teammates are progressing and if you think its enough for when the big game comes."

I got up and walked next to Bugs. "Bugs is right, Hale. We need to be more concerned about how we're gonna do once Friday is here. It's only Tuesday and we only have three days left until then to put our skills and tactics to their limits! We can't give up now!"

Hale stopped spinning his ball and looked at us. "Who said anything about giving up? I am slightly concerned about how we're gonna hold up against them, and don't tell me you guys aren't thinking the same thing. But you are right. We gotta focus and concentrate on our efforts and teamwork and do the best we can do for this Friday night. What time is the game again, Bugs?"

Bugs took out his copy of the schedule, which is heavily scratched out on the following week's box. "Eh, 4:30 to be precise. Your talent show is by 7:30, correct?"

We nodded in unison, making Bugs chuckle a bit. "Then it shouldn't be a problem. By the way docs, do you know what song you're gonna perform at the talent show?"

"Yep. But we can't tell you.", Hale said with a large grin spreading across his face like butter on bread.

"And why not?", a loud, deep voice thundered from the other end of the gym. As we turned, we saw Pound, Bupkus, Blanko, Bang and Nawt make their way towards us.

"So what's this about a talent show?" Bang asked, raising a brow.

I decided to speak up for the better of things. "We have a talent show on the same night as the game. It's gonna take place three hours from when the game starts."

"Due to the circumstances of our part, we're gonna be performing last, and the show ends at around 9:30. They'll be announcing the winners ten minutes before then." Hale said with slight disappointment.

That just reminded me! "Oh! Bugs, I forgot! Here are your tickets for the show." I gave him fifteen tickets for him and the other Tunes.

"Gee, thanks doc! We truly appreciate it! This should be enough to cover us!" Bugs replied happily.

I walked over to the Monstars and gave Nawt the remaining five tickets. "Here you go. You guys are invited too!"

Pound and the other Monstars stood there speechless. "Wait, we get to go too?", Bupkus asked, excitement in his voice.

"Yeah. Kari insisted that you guys should see us and I have to agree.", Hale said reluctantly but with a smirk played across his face.

Pound nodded and smiled. "Thanks. We'll be sure to be there. But remember, this doesn't change on how we're gonna be at the game. No holding back, ya hear?"

Hale and I nodded. "You got it. We won't, and you guys better not either.", I said.

Bang, Bupkus, and Blanko murmured amongst themselves excitedly about the show. Pound, Hale and Bugs passed the ball to one another just for kicks.

Nawt walked over to me and smiled. "So I guess everything's gonna work out alright?"

I nodded. "Don't worry. Everything will be alright. We just gotta have faith and put trust in each other."

He smiled at me warmly. "So why can't you tell us what song you're gonna perform?"

"It's a secret. Hale and I agreed that we keep it that way till the time we have to perform. Plus, it's a special surprise. Wouldn't want to ruin it!" I giggled playfully.

He raised his brow coyly, "So that's how it is, huh? Alright, I suppose it's fair. Guess we both have to wait for our surprises then."

I nodded sincerely.

For the rest of the day remaining, we hung out with the Monstars and Bugs. Nawt pulled Bugs off to the side to ask him something, which I didn't catch. Although I suspected it was something incredible due to Bug's face looking completely shocked but then subsided and muttered something about seeing Witch Hazel for something.

We bid our goodbyes and left, using the purple gems to return back home.


	16. Ch 16 Truth, Preparations, and Pizza

**Here I have Chapter 16 for you to read. Just one chapter till the 'Ultimate Game'!**

**Enjoy these moments of truth, justice, and the last slice of pizza.**

**I own only the Rodgers Family, and Mr. Folles is named after one of my favorite teachers of all time! I miss that bald eagle... sniff!**

* * *

It was Wednesday. Just two more days until the final showdown. We went early to Looney Tune Land to discuss one last time the tactics of our game play and so on.

Granny showed up with all the uniforms ready in hand. She and Witch Hazel worked really hard at making them and spent so much time making sure the fabric was durable enough to last throughout the game.

As Hale and I received our uniforms, we noticed that the title 'Tune Squad' is printed on the front of our jerseys. Bugs did a remake of the game schedule for us and himself, so that way we knew where to meet them and such.

Once we knew we had everything straightened away for Friday's game, we played a couple final rounds with the Tunes, and to tell the truth, Hale and I were impressed with the improvements the Tunes put up during the past week. We bid the Tunes farewell, promising to see them again Friday evening.

On our way to the field, we met up with the Monstars. Each of them wished us good luck, and of course, assuring us that they wouldn't go easy on the both of us. Hale and I gave equal acknowledgments, allowing them to take off with the satisfaction that the game wasn't going to be mere child's play.

Nawt gave a wink my way and mouthed the words 'see you later', knowing that I will definitely see him again tonight.

We teleported home in that late afternoon, noticing that our parent's cars were parked in the driveway. Giving a knowing glance towards Hale, we walked into the house, prepared to tell our parents what's really going on and what's really going to take place this Friday night.

Our mother was in the kitchen squeezing some limes into a pitcher, while dad was helping her by making smoothies out of bananas. "Hey you two! You're back home early. How was practice?", mom asked us.

"Yeah! You guys ready for your big game?" our dad asked, putting one last banana into the smoothie maker.

Hale and I looked at each other and nodded before turning our attention back to our parents.

Mom and dad took notice of this and stopped what they were doing. Mom was the first to speak. "Kids, is everything okay?"

"Mom, dad, there's something we need to tell you about the game we have this Friday. But you have to promise us not to freak out on what we're gonna show you first." I said as calmly as possible.

Mom and dad gave us nervous looks but went along. I grabbed the blue gem on my necklace and in an instant, I disappeared. I then found myself in an abandoned warehouse, where I saw the Monstars eating some pizza.

As I appeared, Pound was severely close to choking on his slice. Bang let out a girlish squeal and Bupkus' eyes were double the size they originally were. Blanko was trying to give Pound the Heimlich maneuver and Nawt only stared with slight scare but it quickly faded.

"Hey, Kari! Want a slice?" He offered me a slice of pizza. I smiled, taking what appeared to be the last slice of pizza they had and thanked him.

"Sorry guys! Well, gotta go! Mom and dad are gonna ask where I went."

Nawt's eyes then grew as wide as saucers. "You mean, you're gonna tell them?" Bupkus, Bang, Pound and Blanko all gave me the same shocked looks.

I nodded. "Yep. Just disappeared on them a moment ago. See ya at the game!" I grabbed my purple gem and was gone as quickly as I came.

I appeared back into the kitchen just in time to see mom let out a scream and our dad looking like he escaped a wild buffalo stampede.

Hale sat in his chair drinking some water, apparently waiting for me to show up. He saw what was in my hand and scowled. "Where did you get the pizza slice?"

I chewed off a piece. "I got it from Nawt. The Monstars were eating some."

Mom and dad boggled their eyes at us. "The Monstars?", dad asked bewildered.

"Yeah. You see, the Monstars are actually aliens from outer space. We didn't say anything to you earlier cause we knew you wouldn't believe us!"

Hale nodded his head. "Yeah, and the friends we are actually helping are the Looney Tunes. Here, take a look!" He pulled out his uniform from under his shirt and showed it to them, their eyes growing wider from the evidence we showed them.

"So, let me get this straight: _The_ Looney Tunes? You're helping the actual cartoons? And the Monstars? They're aliens?", our dad asked, trying to absorb the new information we're giving him.

Our mom then put in. "Then what's this bet you guys have with them?"

Hale and I helped them to sit down in their chairs. "If they win, they take the Looney Tunes away from Earth and force them into slavery forever. They'll be main attractions for an amusement park called Moron Mountain!" I explained to them.

Our parents took a glance at us then at each other. "Well, just seeing you disappear in a flash is evidence enough.", our mom stated, a smile appearing on her features.

Our dad straightened himself and sighed. "Well, I guess I'm alright with this. This Nawt fellow.. is he the one who has taken a liking to you, Kari?"

I nodded. "Yep."

"Well, I suppose I have to deal with it. At least we know you guys are safe. Wait, is that why you asked for so many tickets from Mr. Folles?", dad asked.

We answered simultaneously. "Yes."

"I don't know about you, Alphonse, but I want to meet these Monstars! Oh, and the Looney Tunes too!", mom piped up with excitement.

Dad gave her a bewildered look but shrugged it off. "No harm done. So they'll show up at the talent show?"

Hale confirmed. "Yessir. Here's a copy of the schedule just so you know when it is."

Our parents looked at the schedule that Bugs made for us. Dad then asked us, "Are we able to come see?"

We shook our heads. Hale looked at him apologetically. "Sorry, dad. The Tunes are kinda tight lidded on their location, and they prefer it that way."

Our parents, being as awesome as they are, understood and wished us luck on the game. They asked us if we would arrive in time for the show and we affirmed it with them, saying that we indeed will be on time.

We gave what's left of the explanation to our mom and dad about the Tunes' situation with the Monstars, as well as the Monstars being the same aliens we saw the night of the basketball game we went to see with our aunt. We also told them about each Monstar and how they acted and their personalities, which humored dad.

In short, our parents were alright with us practicing and befriending the Tunes and the Monstars.

Mom said that they will explain everything to Mr. Folles when they see him tomorrow after dropping us off for our last rehearsal. Knowing Mr. Folles, he will be just as understanding as our parents, albeit more shocked than they were however.

* * *

Nightfall came quickly and so did bedtime. Mom and dad already went ahead and turned themselves in for the night. Hale made sure his guitar was tuned up for tomorrow's last rehearsal, checked on me one last time, then bid me goodnight and went to bed himself.

I closed my door quietly and locked it. Turning to the window, I opened it up slightly so as to give Nawt easy access when he shows up. In no more than three minutes, Nawt turned up by my window, opening it and getting into my bedroom before closing it.

"Hey! You came!", I said lightly as so no one in the house would wake. I rushed over and gave him a hug while in my rose pajamas. He firmly but gently embraced me back.

"Of course I did. I said I would, didn't I?" he chuckled.

We pulled back and he gave me a wary look. "So how did your parents take the news?"

I smiled brightly at him, which relieved him slightly. "They took it just fine. We're gonna have to tell our teacher tomorrow so he's aware of who's coming to watch us when we perform. He's in charge of admissions, after all."

Nawt nodded in understanding. "I see. How was the pizza?" he asked teasingly.

I lightly punched his shoulder. "It was good. Maybe next time, we'll come over and we can all have pizza."

He laughed lightly. I giggled in response. He then glanced down at the floor shyly. "Kari, I want you to do me a favor."

I looked up at him. "What is it?"

He grabbed both of my hands and held them in his large red ones. "Promise that you will be careful during the game. I don't want to see anything happen to you." He looked deeply into my eyes with worry and sincerity.

I looked back into his and smiled warmly. "Of course. I'll be alright. Just do me a favor too. You do your best to be careful too and have faith. Everything is gonna be alright."

He smiled back at me with a large toothy grin. "Alright. I will. I have a light that will help me through this dark mess."

I blushed at his words. What he did next surprised me a little and made my heart skip a few beats. Nawt leaned down and kissed my forehead. I flushed a serious storm of red across my entire face. He walked me over to my bed and helped to tuck me in. "Thank you, Nawt."

He looked over at me with a surprised look. "For what?"

I smiled warmly. "For being my best friend.." I yawned as I felt sleep now overtaking me. "and much more." I finally felt my eyes closing as I drifted into sleep.

Though I fell asleep, Nawt chuckled and whispered in my ear, "And you as mine." He left from inside my room touching his blue crystal and disappeared into the bright light; a smile graced my face as his words echoed faintly.

_'And you as mine.'_

* * *

Thursday was at long last here. Hale and I got up and got ourselves ready. I dressed in a red spaghetti strap top with dark blue jeans and my black high tops. Hale wore an orange Reebok shirt and his khaki shorts with black Nike's.

We left to the community theater and there we met up with Mr. Folles. Getting our equipment ready while mom and dad talked to him about the same topic we spoke to them about last night, we began practicing. Mom and dad left soon after, thankfully not entering the room to see what we were doing.

Mr. Folles entered the stage room, looking somewhat bewildered and amused, but was okay overall. He even said himself that he wanted to meet the Tunes and the Monstars as well. We couldn't help but laugh at the works of it all. I

We spent the whole day practicing for our part, making sure I have the lyrics memorized (duh) and that Hale's performance on his bass is left without any mistakes.

As we later were picked up by mom and dad, I couldn't help but wonder how in the world this all came to happen and wonder what tomorrow's game will be like.


	17. Ch 17 The Game Pt 1: Commence

**Chapter 17 is finally here! For the past two weeks, I have been juggling university matters here and there, and today I finally registered for Fall classes. Hoorah for more success! On with the show, my dears! I own nothing. Only Kari, Hale, and their parents.**

* * *

Hugging my pillow close to my face, I tossed and turned slightly to get a good and comfortable position. As I found a nice cool place on my bed, the sun's rays rudely peered at my face, eventually succeeding in waking me.

_'Today's the day. It's finally Friday..'_

Getting up, I glanced over to the rose in the vase on my vanity. It stood there radiating with natural floral beauty and elegance; it's blossom almost completely open.

Smiling to myself with a certain warmth radiating from my chest, I got up and began dressing in my attire. I grabbed a pair of roll up jeans with some holes in them, a cobalt and aqua tye-dye designed top with a black cardigan, some ankle socks and my favorite black high tops. I brushed and smoothed out the ends of my short hair and grabbed my pink wrist sweatband.

I headed towards the door once I saw I was all ready to go. I opened my door and saw that Hale opened his door at the same time I did. He was dressed in his khaki shorts, black shirt with a red plaid button up shirt on top of it, his hair in it's natural spiky glory, white socks and black sneakers. Just like me, he had on his wrist sweatband, as well as his Nike one for his forehead.

"Ready, Kari?" He said with a bright and determined smirk.

I smiled back at him with confidence of my own. "Ready, bro."

As he made his way towards the stairs, I turned once last time to glance at the rose on my vanity and smiled brightly at it before taking my leave to follow Hale.

* * *

We ate breakfast with quick ease. Mom prepared for us some sauteed mushroom omelet with fresh pancakes, a small bowl of blueberries for each of us and a glass of milk. Once we finished, we brushed our teeth then grabbed our uniforms that Granny made for us, stuffing them inside our own duffel bags. Taking our bags to the car, we boarded ourselves and made way to the community theater.

Once we arrived, we met up with Mr. Folles and asked him if we could rehearse our part one last time before tonight's performance. Allowing us to do so, we spent our time until near one o'clock for a quick lunch break with our teacher. After lunch, we bid him goodbye as we made our way out of the building and grabbed our necklaces.

As Hale reached under his shirt, his face dropped. Growing frantic, he searched his pockets until he found his necklace in his back shorts pocket... in pieces.

"Crud! Now what? My necklace must have broke when I sat down while playing my guitar. I was inn a hurry that I didn't get a chance to put it on properly!"

I glanced down at the jewels in my hand. "Hold on to my duffel and yours with one hand and hold my hand with the other.", I calmly told him.

Looking at me completely baffled, he nodded and took our duffels into his left hand and took hold of me with his right. Touching the blue gem, we disappeared in a flash.

* * *

Arriving to Looney Tune Land, we found ourselves in front of a large stadium, which I assumed that's where the game is to be taking place.

"Well, you two are here pretty early!"

We turned around to see Bugs, Daffy, and Lola approaching us with happy smiles.

"Glad you guys could make it!", Daffy said with slight sarcasm, but grateful in his notion.

We greeted the Tunes with hugs and smiled. Hale looked down bashfully at his hand, which held his broken necklace.

"I kinda broke this by accident. Sorry, Bugs. Is there a way I can get a new one?" he asked anxiously.

Bugs took the fragments and examined them. "Eh, I think this may come in handy.."

I raised my brows. "Handy for what, Bugs..?"

Bugs walked over to Lola and gave her the remains, motioning his head towards the stadium and she nodded in silent compliance. He turned back to us and gave a comforting grin.

"Nuttin' you should worry about, docs. I'll talk to Witch Hazel later about getting you a new one, if possible. Right now, let's head inside. Everyone's waiting for us!"

We nodded with excitement as we followed him and Daffy into the back doors of the stadium.

Once we were put into the locker room, Bugs told me to follow Lola to the girls dressing room so we could change into our uniforms, while Hale stuck around with the guys. Once we got our uniforms on, I returned back and motioned everyone to get ready. With Hale by my side, we both knew that there was nothing we couldn't do.

* * *

**Third Person POV:**

All of the citizens of Looney Tune Land were in the stadium cheering on for the team.

Mr. Swackhammer, the Monstars' boss, was seated in a booth with a good view and his little Nerdluck slaves were watching. He exclaimed, "I like 'em! Yes, I can see everything here! Very nice."

Inside the announcement box, the announcer was asleep, but two mice, Hubey and Bertie, grabbed a hold of the microphone and decided to do the announcing.

Bertie said, "Okey-doke, ready to go?"

Hubey snickered, "Yeah, yeah. Sure, sure. Riot!

He cleared his throat and spoke out in an announcer's voice like you hear in actual broadcast games, "Ladies and gentlemen, the starting line-up for the Tune Squad: standing 2 ft. 4, The Wonder from Down Under: The Tazmanian Devil!" Taz made his appearance and popped basketballs in his mouth, flying away as the balls popped.

Next, was Lola. "At small forward: standing a scintillating 3 ft. 2, The Heartthrob of the Hoops: Lola Bunny!" She received a ball from a fan, dribbled and tossed it, and it landed on her finger spinning.

The audience hooted, cheered, and even whistled at her.

Then, it's Daffy's turn. Hubey then announced,"At power forward, The Quackster of the Court: Daffy Duck!"

He stepped up and said, "Thank you! Thank you!" But the audience remained silent and the only sound being made was a cricket chirping. Sarcastically, he sighed, "Very funny. Let's all laugh at the duck!"

Then, the lights dimmed and the crowd stomped and clapped to Queen's _We Will Rock You_. "And at point guard, standing 3 ft. 3, 4 ft. if you include the ears, Co-captain of the Tune Squad, The Doctor of Delight: Bugs Bunny!"

Bugs was underneath the floor of the gym and popped out saying, "Thank you! Thank you!"

The only ones booing at him were the Nerdlucks, who were watching with Swackhammer.

Then, Hubey said, "And now, the player-coach of the Tune Squad, at 4ft. 10 from California, The Small Singing Siren: Hikari Rodgers!" Kari smiled and ran to her teammates and brother with the audience cheering her on.

Swackhammer clenched one of the aliens in his fist, looked over, and asked, "Who? Is _she_ a Looney Tune?" The alien stammered, "Uh-well-uh perhaps..."

* * *

**Normal POV:**

Hale and I gathered our team into a huddle. We placed our hands out, and they placed theirs on top of ours. Hale and I glanced at each other with giddiness and excitement then I looked at the Tunes. "You guys ready for this?

Daffy responded, "I'm born ready! Let's take it back to the rack, Jack!"

Tweety said with anger, "Those Monstars wished they've never been born!"

I agreed with him on that and so did Hale. Then I thought about how the Monstars seemed like good sports about it all, especially Nawt. Shaking my head, I commented to the team, "Guys, let's go out there and do our best as well as have some fun." We threw our hands up with a team cheer as I moved to the center of the court.

Then, the lights moved on to the entrance and Hubey said, "The challengers for the ultimate game, all the way from Moron Mountain: The Monstars!"

I turned my head and saw the five of them run out and show off, with half of the audience cheering and booing at them. I raised my brow at the entire show and from the corner of my eye, I swore I could of saw Hale smacking his butt three times at them.

Taking in a deep breath, I tried to calm myself a bit from the sudden adrenaline rush that I was feeling.

Pound banged his chest like an ape, while Bang and Bupkus body-slammed each other, as well as Nawt and Blanko.

The lights came on and we're getting into our positions.

Glancing again at the Monstars, I could tell they were in their mean mode, ready to go and not willing to hold back. I swallowed hard and put on my bravest face, knowing better than to let them intimidate me. Hale did the same, not willing to let them get to him a second time.

Bang growled at me with a glare that said, 'Back off or face my wrath'. He snarled, "What are you lookin' at?" I glared, surprisingly making a small yelp come out of him, but he tried not to show it. Pound growled at Taz, making him pass out.

_'Poor little guy.'_

I walked at the center of the court and Nawt, aside from Blanko who was in front of me, were the only ones who showed no hostility towards me. Nawt gave a small smile and then gave a thumbs up. I returned the notion then turned my attention towards the tall blue giant in front of me. Blanko chuckled dumbly and commented, "Cool shoes!"

I grinned with pride about my black high tops. "I know, right?"

Bugs was to the right of me and Hale to my left. Feeling a sudden empowerment, I braced myself and maintained my focus.

Marvin the Martian, who was the referee, walked up with the ball and asked, "Ready?" He tossed it in the air, and Blanko and I jumped up to reach for it. I smacked the ball away from him far too quickly for him.

Thus, the game now has officially commenced, and with the title of 'winner takes all'.


	18. Ch 18 The Game Pt 2: Revelations

**Chapter 18 is here al fin! **

**I only own Kari and Hale. I don't own anything that respectively belongs to Warner Bros.**

* * *

I hit the ball away from Blanko's reach and threw it to Hale, watching it whiz past Pound's head. Hale dribbled it to and fro, passing it over to Bugs, who caught the ball.

"I got it! I got the ball! I got the ball!" he exclaimed as he dribbled. However, Bugs didn't look where he was going and Bang backhanded Bugs really hard, sending him to the floor.

I felt myself shrink back at Bugs moaning in pain, while Hale was stood shocked at the brutality the Monstar displayed. Now we _knew_ they were serious when they said there's no holding back.

Pound received the ball and dunked, scoring two points for his team.

Swackhammer cheered them on, happy at the display of the game so far. "Way to go, boys! Did you see the moves on that one?"

Marvin tossed the ball to Taz, then he passed it over to me. I started to dribble the ball towards the opposing side and at that point the Monstars began to taunt me.

"Alright, show me your stuff! C'mon!" Pound blocked me with his arms out as I tried to get past him, but to no avail. I couldn't reach that far. Then seeing an opening, I tossed the ball to Daffy so he could score. He caught the ball with eagerness, but then soon realized he was dead meat.

Bupkus caught sight of him with the ball and pointed out, "The duck!" He and the other Monstars started to gang up on him so they could steal the ball.

"Yeah, beat up the duck!" Bupkus growled.

"Get that duck, man!" Pound snarled.

They were getting closer, but Daffy tossed the ball to the bench where the other team members and Granny were sitting.

Granny caught it, the Monstars saw the ball, and they dog-piled right on top of Granny!

Watching the entire scenario, I couldn't help but flinch as Granny got jumped. Hale let out a loud "Ooh! That's gotta hurt!"

_'I hope she's okay!'_

Granny was in a mangled mess and she saw little Tweety Birds flying around her head. She moaned, "Oh my..."

Lola looked at Daffy with a scowl. He shrugged his shoulders and made a pathetic excuse, "She was wide open!" She rolled her eyes and walked back to her position.

It was now the Monstars' ball and Pound tossed it over to Nawt. Nawt, being as fast as he was, intercepted Lola and passed it to Bupkus, who dunked and scored another point for their team.

This time I had the ball and I started dribbling it to the other side.

Nawt, who's the point guard, called out, "Hey, guys! Coming your way, now! Watch it! Watch it!"

He tried to block me without trying to harm me. I saw what seemed to be a sly glint in his eyes and intentionally gave me a little open space, allowing me to go past him with perfect ease.

Taking the opportunity, I made my way to the basket, where Pound and Bang were waiting. Pound called to Bang, "C'mon, get her!"

They tried to swipe the ball away from me as I dunked, but failed as I managed to dunk it into the basket, earning my team two points. Hale and I glanced up at the current scores displayed on the monitor.

Monstars: 06

Tune Squad: 02

The little aliens were occupied in giving Swackhammer a massage. Apparently, he saw me dunk and score, making him frustrated. He thought to himself out loud, "How did she do that?" He was angry at that stunt and pounded his fist on the table.

It was now the Monstars' ball and Blanko passed it to Pound, while Porky complimented me. "N-nice shot, M-miss Rodgers!"

I noticed Pound tossing the ball to Nawt, and Nawt was making his way over to Bupkus.

I shouted out to Porky, "C'mon, get back on defense! We gotta do this!"

I tried to stop Nawt, but made it too late. Nawt passed the ball to Bupkus and he scored. The little aliens with Swackhammer cheered and did a little victory dance, while he yelled out, "Way to go!"

Nawt gave me an apologetic look, but went back to his other team members. I knew he meant well, but I admit that I hated the fact things had to be this way at this time.

It was now the second quarter of the game and the Monstars are beating us.

Bugs tossed the ball to me saying, "KR! KR!" I jumped up and caught it. About to move to the other side of the court, the Monstars surrounded me and called out, "RED LIGHT!"

At a loss for what to do, I tossed the ball over to Hale. The Monstars then made their way over towards him, surrounding him as well.

Tweety was fluttering and cried, "Feed me! Feed me!" Sylvester grabbed him and said, "Feed you? Feed me!" Then, he stuffed poor Tweety in his mouth.

Hale then managed to throw the ball to Sylvester, but it hit him in the stomach and made him spit Tweety out.

Tweety landed on the ground and muttered, "Bad ol' putty tat."

Pound picked up the ball near Tweety, smirking while saying, "I'll take that, thank you." Pound dribbled the ball and was prepared to dunk. He growled, "Don't try this at home!" and he dunked the ball, earning some points.

Foghorn soon got the ball and was dribbling the ball, singing to himself until Bang blocked his path.

He was on fours, like a beast that was about to pounce on his prey. He snarled, "Goin' somewhere?" Foghorn stopped and said, "May I remind you, son, that physical violence is against reg...", but before he could finish his sentence, Bang took a deep breath and arched his neck, then blew fire out of his mouth like a dragon.

Hale and I glimpsed over at Foghorn and noticed he was burnt to a crisp! He quoted the old KFC saying, "Did you order Original Recipe or Extra Crispy?" and he dissolved into ashes.

_'I think it's a good idea to stay out of Bang's way if we don't want to end up like gingerbread men that just came out of an easy bake oven!'_

I went over to the bench to pick another player and said, "Let's go," What I didn't expect was Sniffles running right up with a smile, "Me? Oh, boy! I'm ready! I can do this!"

Hale gawked at me through a sweaty face. "A mouse? You picked a _mouse_?"

I merely shrugged at him. "What's the worse that could happen? Not like he'll get squashed."

I watched as the little guy ran up to the court with Blanko standing there, holding the ball. Sniffles began talking at a really fast speed, "I love basketball. I've always loved basketball. Do you love basketball? You're big and I bet you're pretty good at basketball; I'm small, but I'll try really hard at playing basketball. Really, I will..."

Feeling regret for choosing him, I face palmed while Hale looked as if he could burst a vein from his temple_._ Our attention went straight to Blanko and by his expression, he seemed interested and sweet by the words coming out of the mouse. He was commenting," Uh-huh, yeah. Okay...Yeah..."

_'Looks like we won't have to worry about anything. Thank goodness!' _

Sniffles continued, "And my Mom always said: Just try your best in everything you..." and before he could say "do", Blanko dropped the ball and it squashed Sniffles like a bug.

I shrunk back a bit at the now pancake like mouse.

_'On second thought... I take that back. NOW we need to worry!'_

Lola made her way to the basket, and Pound and Bang blocked her. Pound sneered, "Try to get by me, doll." Knowing already how she'll react, I thought _'bad move'_. What I wasn't expecting was that she leaped up high in the air, dribbled Pound's face with her feet, and dunked! Hale and I let out a small laugh as we were amused by her actions.

Lola flicked her ears away from her faced and said, "Don't ever call me..._doll_." Bugs high-fived her saying, "Nice shot!" She smiled in reply, "Thanks, Bugs."

Then, it was their ball. Bupkus dribbled the ball and I moved to where he was, about to steal it from him. He showed a cocky smirk at me, and Pound came up from behind. Bupkus smirked, "Where's your defense, girl?" Pound grabbed me and pulled me into him. He smirked, "I gotcha, right here!" I cried out in pain; I needed to get out of his rough hold.

Hale saw this and for a brief moment, allowed himself to forget about the game. He jolted up and took the ball from Bupkus really quick and threw it right into Pound's face. Pound let go of me, holding on to his face in writhing pain.

But that wasn't all; Hale grabbed the ball again and began to repeatedly bounce it off of his body really hard, hitting him on his shoulders, arms, stomach, and back. Pound was left as a writhing heap on the court floor, moaning in pain and soreness.

I thanked Hale and gave him a quick hug, but that quick hug was just enough time for Bupkus to get the ball back and score another point.

Tunes Squad: 18

Monstars: Kinda one-sided, isn't it?

Then Pound, after momentarily easing from the blows that Hale landed on him with the ball, made his way to the hoop, jumped with a roar, and slammed the ball into the hoop.

The buzzer buzzed the time and Marvin fired a pistol saying, "Half-time." We noticed the bullet blew a hole though Sylvester's stomach and Tweety flew though it saying, "Howey Putty Tat!"

Frankly, I wanted to laugh at that remark and so did Hale, but after noticing the score on the board, our spirits were crushed to nearly nothing.

_'Crud! How are we gonna win this now? They're ahead of us and we have less than half of what they scored!'_

The Monstars gave us mean smiles and high-fived each other. Pound said, "Yeah, man! We've got it goin' on. One more half and we win!"

We walked away to the locker rooms, with our heads hanging down in sour defeat. Sylvester sighed, "Moron Mountain: Here we come." Elmer moaned, "We're gonna be slaves."

I kept my head up and said, "C'mon, guys, it's not over yet. Keep your heads up; we only have another half to play." Hale agreed. "She's right! We can't give up! We gotta keep on trying!"

Just then, Hale looked over at the Monstars, who were walking away with smug smiles and arrogant airs. I noticed he wasn't following and looked over at him. I knew he was up to something. I walked up to him and asked, "Hey Hale, aren't ya coming?" Shaking his head, Hale replied, "There's something about them that's been bugging me for quite some time. This is my chance to find out what."

I gave a scared look at him, like he's about to jump off a bridge or something. "Hale, don't! It's too risky. They might hurt you!"

He gave me one of those determined and heroic grins of his. "I'll be fine. I'll find a way into their locker room unseen like a ninja and come back without them evening knowing I was there." I gave a worried look, but gave in in defeat.

"Fine. But be careful and come back in one piece, okay?" He nodded then we hugged each other and he was quickly out of sight.

* * *

**Hale's POV:**

I managed to get into the locker room before the Monstars did, and rushed to the back of the room. I checked the doors and saw that the middle one was not locked, so I quickly jumped in and closed it.

Only moments later after I hid that the scene unravel right before me.

The Monstars broke down the door to their locker room down and rushed inside. They were all filled with glee for their victory and were giving each other high-fives.

Bang pulled Pound in a headlock and gave him a noogie. Their celebration, however, was cut short when someone entered the room and their faces dropped when they saw who it was. Bupkus gasped, "It's the boss!" Swackhammer was in the room, lighting a cigar. The Monstars pulled fake, enthusiastic smiles and greeted, "Hello, Mr. Swackhammer!"

I raised my brow at the sight of their boss. _'So that's the guy who's behind the Tune's wanted capture? But he doesn't look that dangerous.. but I've been wrong before.'_

I watched intently as he walked over to the guys and gave a pep talk, "Alright. Not bad for the first half, but we gotta keep this up!" Pound shrugged, "Hey, no problem. We stole the..." Nawt interrupted and started talking fast, like the mouse that my sister called on earlier. "We stole the best talent, boss, from the best players of the NBA! There was Charles Barkley, Patrick Ewing, Shawn Bradley, Muggsy Bogues, and uh-uh-'Grandmama'...oh, yeah! Larry Johnson!"

My breath hardly hitched and my eyes swollen into the size of golf balls. "What?" I whispered to myself. The NBA? So they ARE the reason why the NBA players could perform like they used to! I felt anger boil in my blood and my cheeks warming up.

_'I have to tell Kari. She won't like it and probably won't believe me, but she will have to hear the truth. I can't believe we trusted them, that we trusted NAWT! He betrayed us, especially Kari! Why I oughta..'_

My thoughts were soon hushed down as I saw Swackhammer brushed Nawt away roughly and growled, "Shut up!"

I saw that something caught his attention and he sniffed. He glared, "I smell something," Blanko sniffed his armpit and thought the odor was from him and his buddies. "Uh...we have been playing really hard," he said. The others agreed, but Swackhammer moaned, "Not you, you idiot!"

Bang inhaled and said, "It smells like green apple. Yum." Swackhammer heard a scuffle and looked at one of the lockers. I began to panic, as I knew that sound came from me moving my feet, and knowing that Bang could smell the scent of the shampoo that I used last night. He said, "It's coming from over there."

Although I always try to be manly about a lot of things, this wasn't one of those times. I tried not to scream or gasp. I then saw Blanko lean over to where I was hiding and found my scent.

_'Dammit! I don't curse, but this time it's serious enough that it calls for the occasion!'_

I then heard Pound say, "That locker!" I shut my eyes tightly, praying that somebody would use some type of magic and get me out of there. The Monstars responded, "Yeah!" Blanko grabbed the locker vent with one hand and ripped the door off its hinges.

The Monstars came closer and found me in the corner of the locker. Bang growled, "Look!" I cried out, "Oh no!" Bang clenched his fist and started smacking his hand, with a snarl, "It's the pyro boy!" Pound made a slicing motion to his neck with a vengeful grin, as if saying, 'You're dead, boy'. Swackhammer moved over to where I was and snarled, "It smells like a spy!"

Honestly, I was scared out of my mind and pants. Seeing no other option, I tried to make an excuse. I nervously chuckled, "Uh...I was looking for my sweatband and I think I left it in here. So, no harm done, heh-heh?"

Swackhammer inhaled his cigar and said, "There are many liars..." then leaned his face towards me and blew smoke into my face, causing me to cough. Jerk. He added in a dark tone, "And I hate liars."

I felt my blood boil again as he threatened me, but I was stopped before I could do anything.

Bang and Pound grabbed me by the wrists and yanked me out of the locker.

They shoved me to Blanko, who pinned my wrists behind my back. Now I was scared.

I didn't know what was going to happen. Swackhammer said with a sinister smirk, "Boys, teach this runt a little lesson."

Pound cracked his knuckles and growled, "With pleasure, boss." He walked over to me and punched me in my stomach, followed by backhanding me across the face. I put on my bravest face, not willing to scream in pain or cry and give them the satisfaction. I bit his hand hard, causing him to yelp and pull back in agonizing pain.

Nawt looked scared and worried. I shot a nasty glare at him as Pound kissed his now bleeding hand. Bupkus gave a shocked look at me, while Bang landed a blow to my chest, causing me to heave with difficulty as the breath got knocked out of me completely.

Nawt grabbed Bang by the side and growled, "That's enough. Just finish it."

Bang gave a glare of his own but nodded and looked over at Blanko. "Blanko, hold him down good."

I glanced up sorely at Nawt, who had an expression that read regret and hurt, as well as anger.

Pound growled angrily and said, "I saw we should brand him then." He sheathed his claws out and made his way over to me. I bared my teeth at him in retaliation. "I told you and your sister to watch your backs, and now you're gonna get it."

Giving one last challenging look at them, I breathed out hoarsely. "Do your worst, then."

Pound growled, "Fine by me." He leaned down and clawed at my arm, leaving some cuts, but thankfully they didn't bleed out.

I hissed in pain, but I still kept a scowl. I looked over at Nawt with pure rage. He slightly backed away from the look I gave him, telling him without saying it 'this is all your fault.'

Bang walked over to me and growled, "Say your prayers, kid. This will hurt... a lot!" He inhaled and breathed fire on me, making me let out a piercing scream. When he finished, I was left burnt, but no flesh was badly cooked off. I was covered in soot and had small streams of smoke wafting off of me, but it still made my body sore and sting.

Swackhammer snapped his fingers and said, "Alright, boys, that's enough. I think he's got it."

I moaned slightly in pain and coughed some smoke out. Swackhammer said, "Nawt, take him to his team members' locker room."

Nawt nervously and carefully lifted me up and guided me up my feet. Gently putting his hand on the back of my shoulder, he led me out of the locker room, away from the other Monstars and Swackhammer.

Once we were our of earshot, he started to talk. "I'm sorry, Hale. Why were you there? You realize the risk you put yourself in?"

I turned around angrily and swatted his hand away from me. "Cause I knew there was something wrong with you and your teammates! I can't believe you deceived us; deceived _my sister_!"

Nawt looked taken aback from my outburst. "We trusted you! How could you have done this?"

At this point, now I let my barriers break. I started to sob, but not so much. Nawt gave a shameful look and sighed. "I am truly sorry for what the guys did to you. But there isn't much I could have done. I'm on their side. I even swore to Kari that I wouldn't harm the either of you, so I tried to keep to my word, despite that my team won't."

I let his words sink in and let out a shaky sigh on my behalf. I wiped my tears away and tried to calm myself. "I understand. But I will still have to tell her. She can't be left out in the dark about this secret of yours. You know that, right?"

Nawt nodded. "I knew this would have to happen sometime." Out of the love I have for my sister, I couldn't believe what I was about to say next.

"I'll reason with her that your boss forced you guys into this mess. It's only fair, and from what I see, it's part of the truth."

Nawt gaped at me with a priceless expression. I shrugged and closed my eyes as I massaged a kink in my left shoulder. "I don't think she'll be able to hate you. She's my sister and how she's been lately, thanks to you, she never will. So, your welcome."

With that, I made my way to the doors of my team's locker room. Had I stuck around a moment longer, I would have seen a couple of tears escape from Nawt's eyes, barely whispering the words 'thank you'.


	19. Ch 19 The Game Pt 3: Payback Play Back

**Chapter 19 is ready to serve. Would you like some sweet tea with that order?**

**I own nothing except Hale and Hikari Rodgers. This story will end soon folks! But do not fret.. the journey ain't over by a long shot! ;)**

* * *

Back in the locker room, the team looked exhausted and concerned for the games' overall results by far, so I decided to give the Tunes a little pep talk and hopefully get their bright smiles back and their spirits up again.

"Look, I know we're down. I've been in situations a lot, even with Hale through these years. We could still win this! We've got to believe in ourselves and come back to win this game!"

By their looks, they still seemed crushed and depressed. But their looks soon changed to shock and concern as the door opened.

Hale stood there, covered in soot and smoke, a purple bruise now forming on his left cheek and five long gashes running down his right arm. He started making his way towards me, coughing and wheezing out smoke. "The Monstars...the Monstars..." Looking like he took the beating that he did, almost fell head-first on the floor, but I caught him before he could. I helped him over to the bench and sat him there, gently checking his clawed out arm. I asked with glossy eyes that were completely evident with worry, "What happened to you?"

He took a shaky breath and said as calmly as he could, though I saw the hurt in his voice. "I snuck in and found out their secret. I tried to get away once they found me, but their boss.. he told them to hold me down, and.. well, heh... you can guess what happened."

I glanced down at his arm, tears forming in my eyes. The marks were long and reached from his shoulder down to near his wrist. His left cheek was swollen and brutally purple. I held back my tears, knowing not to shed them.

_'This is terrible! It's wrong; it's CRUEL! Those Monstars are going to pay for what they did... wait! Nawt didn't.. did he?'_

I looked up at him with frantic anxiety. "Nawt! He didn't.. did he?" He sighed and shook his head. "He was the only one who didn't hurt me, actually. He wanted to keep his word to you. Besides, their boss forced this upon them."

I sighed with relief. At least that comforted me a bit, but it won't be enough to forgive him, at least not completely. Nawt may have not participated in hurting Hale, but was there nonetheless. Feeling something more sinister lying under this story, I asked what would be my own undoing.

"What was their secret, Hale?"

He eyed me with a knowing look of his own and let out a shaky sigh. "They stole the talent from the NBA players!" The Tunes gasped, shocked and now in further turmoil than they were before. I couldn't believe what I was hearing! They _stole_ the _talents_ from the NBA?

My mind just sank at the thought of it. Why didn't Nawt tell me this? Then again, if Hale said their boss brought this upon them forcefully, then I can't blame him. Any of them. This is an even bigger mess than we originally thought.

I got up, surprising Hale a bit, as well as some of the Tunes. I closed my eyes, scowling at the thought.

_'Okay. Mess with my brother, mess with my friends, mess with the one person I find very important to me... that's far enough! This is officially a declaration of war!'_

Porky then put in and stammered, "I think we should q-qui-qu...forfeit!" The Tunes agreed, but I went against the thought of quitting. I decided to fight back and show them that if they want to play nasty and against the rules, then they don't know me all that well. For like Hale stated a few days back, I too, am a breaker of rules.

I nearly shouted, "Listen, my brother and I didn't get dragged down here just to have our butts whooped by a bunch of big, stupid, ugly Monstars! I ain't going down like that! We're letting these jerks push us around! We gotta fight back and take it to them! We gotta get right in their faces and send them home, reduced like a bunch of blubbering babies! So, what do you say? Are you with me or not?"

As it turns out, it looked like they weren't with me. Everyone else fell asleep and were snoring loudly. The only ones who were awake and listening were Bugs, Lola, and Hale.

Hale gave me a comforting and inspired smile. "Good speech, sis. You got me prepped and ready to go, for sure!" I smiled at him with thankfulness. Turning to the other direction, I rested my attention towards Bugs. He brought a water bottle while looking over the rest of the team with some disappointment. "Great speech and all, doc; you have them riveted. But, eh, didn't you maybe forget somethin'?" He gave a wide and sly grin.

I raised an eyebrow, "What?" He showed me a water bottle that was labeled: "Kari's Secret Stuff", and he replied keenly. "Your secret stuff!"

He guzzled the water bottle with ease and grew abruptly muscular. This caught the Tunes' attention,waking them out of their daze while he was flexing his 'muscles'.

Lola gasped in awe, "Wow!"

Daffy added, "Whoa, nice deltoids!"

Bugs was then back in his normal shape and winked at me, "Play along." I took the bottle and examined it with a raised brow. I glanced at Hale, who merely shrugged his shoulders. Bugs tugged the bottle from me and I was tugging back. He exclaimed, "Hey, stop hoggin' it, Kari! We're your teammates!"

The bottle flew out of my hands and landed near Porky, who took a swig. Elmer looked at the bottle, "Secwet stuff?" and he too had a sip. The Tunes started sipping the so called 'Secret Stuff', started to feel more confident, and stronger. Sylvester asked nervously, "Secret stuff? You wouldn't hold out on us, would ya?"

I replied, getting the idea of what Bugs was trying to do. "No, I don't think you really needed it. You guys are so tough and competitive!"

Foghorn got in between Yosemite Sam and Wile fighting over the bottle, and said, "We're also chicken, hon. We need it bad." He took a guzzle and tossed it over to Hale. He questioned the bottle in his hand, but I gave him a look of assurance. He took a sip and the stuff actually worked! All of his injuries: the bruise on his cheek, cuts on his arm, and burns were gone from his body!

I couldn't believe it either as Hale gawked down at his form then the bottle. I happily asked him. "How do you feel now, big brother?" Hale was knocked out of his stupor and smiled. "Much better! Now I'm ready to go out there and beat the tar out of those Monstars! It's payback time!" He pounded his fist into his now free hand as he threw the bottle over to Daffy.

Daffy held the bottle skeptically. "Ya know, this goes against everything they've taught me in health class."

I rolled my eyes, amazed yet frustrated at his stubbornness. "You wanna win or not?"

He shrugged, "Bottoms up," and he guzzled the bottle until there was nothing left. "Yummy!", he replied smartly. I ignored him and gathered the team in a huddle, placed my hand out, and said, "Okay, how about we go out there and kick some alien butt, huh?" They put their hands on top of mine, Hale's included, shook them with a cheer, and headed towards the gym for the next half.

_'Like Hale said, it's payback time!'_

* * *

**Third Person POV:**

The Tunes, Kari and Hale ran onto the court with determination and courage. Hale wanted to face off the Monstars along with his teammates, but Kari insisted that he sat this one out for the time being. Without protest, he conceded and sat on the bench in between Granny and Witch Hazel, who was concocting something on the side in a cauldron.

The rest of the team and Kari faced the Monstars, showing off their game face. Bang and Daffy were face to face, growling at each other, while Taz did the same to Nawt, Porky to Bupkus, and Kari to Pound.

She knew Pound was the one who was held responsible for most of the pulverizing that her brother had to endure, and motioned with her fore and middle fingers that she had her eye on him.

Bang threw the ball over to Pound, and he made his way to the other side. Before he could shoot, Bugs rode on a mechanical scooter and sped by him, steeling the ball from him in the process shouting, "Comin' through!"

Pound couldn't believe his eyes when Bugs stole the ball and started to chase him. Kari ran over to where Bugs was, with Nawt following her. Nawt saw the angry and determined look on Kari's face, knowing all too well that their just desserts were about to be distributed to them all.

"Bugs! Over here!" she called out. Bugs stopped the scooter and tossed the ball over his shoulder, "Special delivery!" She shot the ball into the hoop and the crowd went wild. Swackhammer, however, was angry by that shot and yelled, "No! Boo!" The game continued and soon it showed Tunes were getting closer to winning the game now.

Bupkus got the ball, lept in the air, and was about to dunk. His expression showed determination, but soon changed to shock as he saw the hoop covered with explosives and TNT. He stopped in mid-air, his hair drooped, his expression priceless as thought it read, 'Well, this sucks'. The hoop then exploded and Wile and Bugs stood there, watching Bupkus get his share of what was to come.

Bugs complimented, "Eh, nice kaboom, Wile!" while munching on a carrot. Wile's little victory came short as Bupkus, who was covered in burns and soot, grabbed him. He glared at Wile, until his teeth got shot, followed by two additional shots until only his two front teeth were left. He glanced down and saw Yosemite and Elmer, dressed in black suits, shades, and holding pistols. They almost appeared like 'The Men in Black'. They looked at each other and shot Bupkus's teeth again, making him completely toothless. But his teeth came back in again shortly after and he was ready to fight.

Kari was dribbling across the court, with Bang and Nawt on her tail. She tossed the ball into the air while Bupkus and Nawt tried to knock it away from getting it in, but the ball successfully made its way into the basket.

Blanko tossed the ball to Pound, and Pound growled, "Let's teach them a lesson!" He and Nawt ran on the the other side.

Blanko looked over and saw Sylvester carrying a fishing rod and flung the hook onto Pound's shorts. He gave it a yank and Pound's shorts came off. His big butt was now clearly visible to the entire audience! Blanko looked and said, "Uh...Pound? Your shorts are gone." Bang looked at Pound with his eyes bulged out. He shouted over to Pound. "PUT SOME PANTS ON, MAN!"

Bupkus covered his eyes with his hands. "Now THAT'S just NASTY!", he screamed in terror. Nawt didn't say anything, although his face showed half amusement and a part of him looked sick at the sight of the orange 'full moon'.

Kari howled with laughter at Pound, while Hale rolled near the bleachers, lacking for breath to breathe as his choked in laughter. Pound dropped the ball, looked down, and said, "Hey, what the..?" With a shocked expression, he covered his butt with his jersey and gave an embarrassed smile.

His face was flushed red and Lola shouted, "Nice butt!" Everyone in the stadium busted out with laughter, even Nawt, although he tried to hide it.

The game continued on and the Monstars were getting beaten to oblivion. Taz took his chance and dunked the ball with ease. Kari went past Pound, who thankfully got his shorts back on and Bupkus, and jumped up high and dunked the ball with ease. Bupkus tried to grab the ball from going into the hoop, but to no fruitful avail.

Then, Foghorn and Sylvester got Porky on top of their shoulders. He said, "Going up!" Pound was about to stop them and sneered, "You're mine, boy!" Porky tossed the ball into the basket, letting it hit Pound's head.

The Tunes were gaining more points, but the Monstars are still at the top, now with the same score. It was their ball and they made their way over, until Kari approached them with a gas mask on her face and held up Pepe Le Pew by his tail. Tweety, Foghorn, and Bugs were wearing gas masks as well. Pepe smiled and laughed, "Hello! A little surprise for you my friends. Ho ho!" His unbearable stench got into the Monstars' noses, causing them to pass out. Pepe got the ball up to the basket and kissed it saying, "Two points!"

The game continued on and Kari and Nawt lept into the air. She dunked the ball into the hoop and it hit Nawt on top of his head. He fell hard onto the floor and rubbed his head. _'Guess I deserve that one.'_, he thought to himself as Kari gave him a look that said, 'sorry, but you did sorta deserve that.'

Kari continued to score more points along with the Tunes. She got the ball from Lola and shot it towards the basket. Bang tried to stop the ball, but he tripped over his feet and landed to the floor with a loud, booming thud. Swackhammer was getting extremely angry and flustered and seethed, "Dang!"

Daffy got out a bucket of red paint and a paint brush. "Ooh, this will be good!" he said, as he painted Pound's butt red. The audience laughed, but a bull from the audience saw the red paint and he became raving mad. The Tunes moved out of the rampaging bull's way as he rammed his horns into Pound's behind, causing the alien to scream in pain and fly up into the stadium ceiling! The team and the audience roared, "_Ole_!"

Tweety fluttered along the court in hopes of getting the ball and help out his team. The Monstars then surrounded Tweety and Bang growled, "Hey, birdie." Tweety turned around and said, "Uh-oh," while the Monstars snarled at him. Tweety, tired of being bullied by the large aliens, snapped. He screeched and did a karate pose, catching the Monstars by surprise. He rabbit-punched Pound and head-butted Bupkus. Then, he punched Bang in the stomach, and punched Blanko in the face, causing his neck to spiral and a tooth to fall out.

Then, he bit Pound's ear, pulled Bupkus's hair out with his beak, and kicked Bang on the chin, causing the green player to fall backwards in a daze. After the Monstars got assaulted by Tweety, Elmer jumped in the air like Michael Jordan and dunked the ball.

The Monstars groaned in defeat, while the Tunes cheered. Kari cried out happily. "All right!" and jumped with her arms above her head in victory. Hale grinned widely at the victorious scene and cheered as well.

The Monstars trembled at the sound of their boss bellowing, "TIME OUT!" The scoreboard showed that the Tunes were a step closer to winning, with only two points behind the Monstars. Swackhammer stomped his way over to the court and Marvin blew his whistle, telling him that he can't go there. He ignored the little martian, grabbed him by the collar, and flung him away, "Shut up, you little bug! Get away from me! Pow Wow!"

He then called in the Monstars for a chat, knowing that it wasn't going to be a very pleasant one.

Kari glanced up at the scoreboard, her eyes twinkling with satisfaction.

Tune Squad: 66

Monstars: 68

Taking a time out for the 4rth quarter, she walked towards her teammates and smiled. "Alright, guys! We're getting right back at 'em! Now, let's play some tough defense!"

She took one of the towels and started to dab her face and neck dry. Hale approached her and patted her lightly on the shoulder. "Good job out there, Kari! Bet ya if mom and dad were here, they'd be proud!"

She grinned brightly at her brother, happy and moved by the comment her brother gave her. The two grinned at their overall progress, until the shouts coming from Swackhammer made them flinch from their goofy stupor.

They both glanced over to see Swackhammer berate the Monstars.

Swackhammer pointed at Kari while deftly shouting, "WHY DIDN'T YOU GET THIS GIRL?"

Bupkus said, "She's a singer."

Nawt nodded his head and replied, "Yeah, boss, a singer. You should hear how she sin..." he was cut off as Swackhammer glared at them with a venomous expression. "Looks like a basketball player to me!"

Blanko responded, "Yeah, me too."

Swackhammer grounded his teeth and growled, "_She's_ the one I want for Moron Mountain!"

Kari then realized that he was talking about her, not including her brother. Getting fed up with this savage display of dictatorship and ruthless behavior, she gave Hale her towel despite his protests of him not wanting her to get involved.

"Hey, you!", she hollered at him. He turned to face her and sneered, "Are _you_ talking to _me_?"

Kari looked at Swackhammer and stood her ground, not deterred in the least. She meant business. "Yeah, I'm talking to you! You're the one who ordered for my brother to get tortured, you sick egomaniac! You want a piece of me? Well, then come and get it!"

He looked at the Monstars with a twisted smile, which they all had except for Nawt and Blanko, especially Nawt. His facial expression showed a large mixture of worry and fright. He looked at Kari with a scared look in his eyes, not wanting her to get harmed by Swackhammer's wrath.

Kari glanced at him and gave an assuring smile towards him. Bupkus smirked under his breath, "Uh-oh," and Bang snickered, "She's a dead girl."

Pound muttered, "Watch out girly."

Nawt whispered under his breath, "Please, don't Kari!" Blanko gave a concerned look of his own, but remained silent.

Swackhammer walked towards her, grinning smugly at her. He took a deep puff from is cigar and breathed out. "What did you have in mind?"

Kari kept steady eye contact with him, not once faltering. " How about if we raise the stakes a little bit?" He inhaled more of his cigar and smoke came out as he said, "Interesting."

She coughed slightly but held firm. Hale brushed the smoke away from his face, muttering something about 'lung cancer' in disgust. Kari bravely stated, "If we win, you give the NBA their talent back."

Then, he asked, "But what if _we_ win?"

Kari crossed her arms and looked deep in thought about what she should bargain. After a brief moment, she made decision; one that made almost everyone on the court flip and completely baffled in disbelief and shock.

"If you win..." she stated, looking at Hale with almost apologetic look then turned back to Swackhammer. "You get me."

The Tunes gasped in shock and Hale boggled his eyes out with extreme alarm. Nawt's eyes went just as wide in horror, not believing what he just heard. He was about to scream and beg at her, but was immediately muffled by Blanko. Blanko gave him a wary look, as if saying 'don't!'

The others looked with evil smiles and Pound growled, "Good deal, boss!"

Bugs, who was beside Kari and Hale the whole time, said, "Uh, doc, you think that's a good..." she gently cut him off by covering his mouth.

Hale muttered to her with gritted teeth, "Are you _nuts_? You can't! You'll be butchered alive!" She gave him a stern look that caused him to flinch in surprise, then returned her gaze towards Swackhammer.

Swackhammer inhaled his cigar and said, "You'll be our star attraction. You'll sign autographs all day long and play one-on-one with the paying customers. And you'll always _lose_."

Kari developed a mental picture of herself in her uniform, signing autographs for tiny aliens, and herself in chains trying to play. A customer was climbing up steps and shot the ball into the hoop, cheering and blowing raspberries in her face. She felt sweat running down the side of her face at the terrible thought, but pushed it away.

He looked at her with an evil smile and asked, "Do we have a deal?"

Kari straightened herself and bravely extended her hand, her glare still not faltering. "Deal."

He took her hand and squeezed it really hard, nearly crushing it. Kari, however, showed no pain and let go. Turning around, she left with Hale towards their team.

Bugs caught up to them and scolded, "I don't think you should've done that, kid." Kari gave him a confident smile and reassured him, "Relax, I've have faith in my team." Hale gave her a worried look himself, but kept quiet, hoping that his sister _indeed_ knows what she's doing.

Swackhammer looked back at Kari, Hale and the rest of their team, and growled, "CRUSH 'EM!"


	20. Ch 20 The Game Pt 4: Feelings & Forfeit?

**I'm back with Chapter 20 in tow!**

**I own only my imagination and the Rodgers siblings. Warner Bros. Owns everything else. (weep)**

**Thank you for those who have kept along with the story so far! I truly appreciate it!**

* * *

**Third Person POV:**

Marvin blew the whistle and the game continued. Wile got the ball and was making his way over, but the Monstars stampeded through the court. Pound snarled, "Let's get 'em!"

Wile's eyes bugged out and the Monstars trampled over him, causing his body to fall apart in pieces. He held up a sign with his dismembered hand that said: "Ouch"!

Porky tried to get out of the way, but Bang and Bupkus did a butt-slam, squashing the poor screaming pig.

Sylvester dribbled the ball, but Pound crushed him with his foot and sneered, "Good-bye!"

Kari took hold of the ball and made her way over to the basket. Bupkus got behind her, while Pound was in front of her. He swung his arm and backhanded Kari behind her head, causing her to fall forward and lose the ball.

Feeling a bit sore on the knees and hands, she got up and kept face. She knew better than to give in to their antics.

Then, Bupkus used his elbow and pinned Elmer down to the ground, causing Elmer's body to squeak like one of those squeaky toys. After that, Bupkus used his fist and brought it up to Foghorn's face, while Nawt kicked Taz in the stomach, causing him to get knocked off his feet.

Bupkus then used Foghorn as a golf club, and Tweety as a golf ball. He swung Foghorn and shouted, "Fore!", hitting the poor canary all the way to the Tunes' bleachers. Hale and Kari looked down at the poor yellow bird then back at the Monstars. Hale could only sit there and watch in nerve wrecking anxiety while his sister and teammates continued to struggle out in the court against the now merciless aliens.

Bupkus soon made his way over to Daffy and squashed him with his hand. Looking at his palm, he saw that Daffy was stuck to him like gum. Daffy then came to, though completely dazed, "But, Mommy, I don't wanna go to school today!" Bupkus guessed that he smacked the duck a little too hard and he got some spit sprayed on his face from Daffy's lisp.

Pound caught the ball and roughly shoved down Kari to the ground with a nasty look. Back over to Daffy, he clung to Bupkus's head and said, "I wanna stay home and bake cookies with you!" Bupkus got freaked out by the duck's hallucinating and tried to pry him off his head. However, Daffy clung to his head and skin, making it nearly impossible to remove him. He finally let go, but Bupkus's face became all misshapen and mixed up, similar to one of Picasso's paintings. Hale couldn't help but laugh at that moment. But soon, everything turned into a state of panic as to what was about to happen next.

Both Kari and Lola were in front of the basketball hoop, but they didn't know that Pound was right behind them. He got onto the hoop and crouched in a position like a wrestler. He chuckled in sinister enjoyment to himself. "This is gonna be fun." Without further warning, he jumped off the hoop.

Lola and Kari both waved their arms at the rest of their team members. "I'm open!", they simultaneously called out, then glanced at one another. Bugs, along with Nawt who was near the other side of the court noticed the scene before them and the both reacted with gratifying horror. Hale took notice and watched helplessly as he saw this all happen almost in slow motion in front of him.

Bugs shouted, "LOLA! LOLA, HEAD'S UP!"

Nawt screamed out as well. "KARI, LOOK OUT!"

The girls saw a shadow and turned their attention. They both gasped in alarm and fright. Pound was dropping at an incredibly fast speed and bellowed to his victims below him, "BELLY FLOP!"

Letting his senses kick in at the unfortunate turn of events at the last second, Hale finally found his voice and let out a piercing cry. "_KARIIIII!"_

He watched in horror as his younger sister and the female hare were about to get crushed.. until two quick figures shoved the damsels out of the way, getting crushed by the heavy giant instead.

* * *

**Normal POV:**

Lola and I quickly turned around and the both of us saw Pound falling really fast above us. He was going to crush us into nothing!

I stood frozen in fear and feeling completely despaired. I didn't know what to do or how to react! _Lola and I are goners!_

I closed my eyes, hearing my brother's shrill voice ringing in my ears, calling out my name.

_'...Goodbye Hale.'_

Then I felt someone knock me out from where I was, rendering me out of the way. I tumbled and fell a couple feet away, with Lola following after. She landed right next to me, and I found myself fluttering my eyes open and looked over at her.

"Lola, are you alright?" I crawled over and knelt beside her, checking for any injuries. She slowly got up and tilted her head up at me. "Yeah, are you?" I nodded, giving her a small smile. Then I snapped alertly into my senses.

"But who..?" I recalled that aside from my brother, Bugs and Nawt called out to us... We turned our eyes towards where we were standing before and both of us let out shuddering gasps. From underneath Pound's ginormous form, I could make out both Bugs and Nawt's hands sticking out and barely moving.

Lola gasped, "Oh my...Bugs!" She bolted up and began to run towards them.

I cried out as well. "No! Nawt!" The audience let out gasps and screams of alarm. I lept to my feet and ran over to them, fearing already for the worst.

Pound got up and sneered at the both of us with cruel satisfaction spread across his features. "Are these yo' men?"

Lola ran towards Bugs, cradling his upper body in her arms. "Are you okay?" Bugs' eyes rolled around, but regained conscious and smiled at her. "Me? Oh, yeah, I'm fine. Are you okay?"

She smiled in relief that he was alright and relieved a sigh of contentment. "Oh, Bugs. Thank you." He grinned warmly at her. "Oh, it was nothin'."

Lola took his face in her hands, looking in his eyes. "That was the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me." She placed her lips on his and kissed him. After a moment, she parted and walked away, leaving Bugs with a dumb grin on his face and had hearts in his eyes.

I brought my attention down to Nawt, who I placed in my own arms. His face looked like it was in pain and was completely unconscious from the looks of it. I tried my very best not to panic and took his left hand into my right one.

I whispered gently to him, hoping he could hear me.

"Nawt, please.. I'm begging you, please! Don't... don't even dare leave me.. you just can't! You make me the happiest girl in the world... and... _and_..!"

I felt my eyes starting to sting and burn as fresh hot tears were making their way. "I.. I can't say exactly what it is I feel cause I'm not so sure what it is, but... I _want _to know! I like the way you make me smile, the way you make me feel like I have butterflies in my stomach, and I... I don't want anyone else to bring me that _special_ kind of happiness but _YOU!_ So please... please wake up..."

He didn't stir. I felt my heart collapsing on top of itself, the hurt settling in and digging in.. _deep_. I felt a hand settling on my shoulder and looked over to see my brother looming over me with a relieved, but sad and remorseful look as well. I whimpered and shook my head and shut my eyes to keep the tears from flowing; my grip tightening on Nawt's hand.

_'No.. I can't... he can't... I...I WON'T LET HIM GO!'_

".. You know, if you keep squeezing my hand like that, you're just gonna cut off my circulation." I gasped and looked down at the now awake figure that I was nursing in my petite arms. He grinned up at me, but then slightly frowned. "Don't cry, sweetheart." He brushed off a few stray tears that made their way out of my eyes. I couldn't believe it; he was alive!

Without warning, I threw myself at him and locked him in a warm embrace, too afraid to let go for fear that he may pass out again and not wake up. As if he read my mind, Nawt let out a low rumbling laugh. "I'm not going anywhere, but if keep holding me like this, I might just pass out again." I let loose of my hold but didn't let go completely.

Then I furrowed my brows and punched him on the shoulder, _hard_. He winced and rubbed his now sore shoulder. "Ow! That hurt!" My brother tried to stifle a snort and a laugh, amused at the sudden change of heart.

I scolded him. "Don't do that again! You scared me!" Nawt gave a wry smile. "Sorry, but I can't make that promise. I already made an even bigger one that matters so much more. Plus, I finally got the chance to repay you for _saving_ me." He cupped my chin with one large hand, making me flush slightly at the contact and notion behind it.

Marvin the martian tooted his whistle, calling in a time out. Pound shook his head in disgust at the mushy display of affection. Bupkus was raising a brow, smirking at the sight of it all. Blanko was too busy patting Bang's shoulder as the giant green alien was blowing his nose, sobbing from watching us.

I smiled and gave him one more hug before walking with my brother towards our team. "Oh! One more thing!" Hale looked at me in confusion as I scampered back and gave Nawt a small kiss on his cheek, causing him to flush several impossible shades more deeper of red and a goofy grin of his own spreading across his face. Hale gawked at the sight; his jaw almost hitting the floor. I giggled as I skipped passed him, not answering nor acknowledging his slew of protests and retorts.

I went over to the bleachers with Hale and looked over at the team. The Tunes were a mess; they had bruises, cuts, broken bones, and other injuries that looked pretty nasty. Hale and I exchanged nervous glances between ourselves, knowing that we were thinking the same thing.

_'We are so doomed. There's no way these guys can play with the injuries they have!'_

I paced back and forth, biting down nervously on my bottom lip. "Okay, we need a fifth player." Bugs, Daffy, Lola, and I were practically the only players left. Daffy asked, "Hey, coach? Listen, you got anymore of that secret stuff? I think it's startin' to wear off," and his arms deflated as he made a muscle.

I raised a brow at his comment. "Daffy, it didn't wear off. It was just water. You guys had the secret stuff inside you all along!" Daffy looked at me, but shrugged, "Yeah, I knew that. But listen, ya got anymore?" Everyone else started asking in addition, making me shake my head in amazement. Gazing over at Hale standing next to me, his expression reading hyper activeness and excitement, I sighed with no choice at the fifth player. "Hale, you're in at center. Just please be careful and guard Pound."

He jumped slightly, eyes growing wide with joy and a bit of anger. "Guard him? I'll smother him! I'll be on him like a rash! I'll be on him like a leech on human skin! I'm tellin' you, he's going _down_!" Marvin called a time in and passed the ball to Lola, and tossed it to me.

The four titans, excluding Nawt who was still looked somewhat dazed, ran over to me and tried to steal the ball from me. Pound tried to get a swing at me, but I dodged too quickly for him. Bang tried to pry the ball from my hands, but I managed to get it back. Bupkus tried to grab me by the waist and Blanko tried to reach from up top of me. I mentally shook my head, knowing this was getting us nowhere close to winning. Just then I heard Hale shout over to me. "Kari, over here! I'm open, I'm open!"

The Monstars turned their attention towards Hale, and I got my chance to throw the ball towards him. He caught it with a laugh. What he didn't expect was Bang jumping up, ready to crush him! He rolled into fetal position and held the ball above his head. Bang landed on him, then Bupkus fell on top of Bang, Blanko jumped on both of them, and lastly, Pound landed on all of them! As the force of his body crushed his teammates, the ball popped out and landed in the basket, scoring our team a point!

I gave a victory cry and jumped up into the air. "Yes!" But shrank back as I saw the Monstars getting up. Pound smirked with cockiness. "Little scrawny, ain't he?" Blanko groaned loudly. "Hey, no fair!" Bupkus and Bang were the last ones to get up, leaving Hale thankfully still in one piece, but flattened like a hotcake!

Bugs and Daffy went over towards him and got on either side of him. They started to shake him like a rag! After a moment of shaking him, he reverted back to his normal shape. I closed my eyes in relief, glad to know my brother wasn't hurt again.

I ran over and hugged him. "Thank goodness you're okay, Hale." He smirked, scratching the back of his head. "Yeah, for a second I thought I was gonna be a gooey mess all over the place!" He suddenly groaned and held his hand to his head in pain. "I'm gonna sit this one out again. Sorry, sis." I nodded an 'okay' to him as he made his way over to the bench, receiving an ice pack from Witch Hazel, and placing it on his head.

I turned my attention towards Bugs and Daffy with surprise and confusion. "How did he do that? That weird flip trick?"

Bugs shrugged, "Aw, anybody can do that, doc. Even you! Watch this." He grabbed Daffy by the neck and stretched his neck out pretty far. Daffy gurgled in a strangled voice, "Watch what? No sweat! this is Looney Tune Land!" His neck went back to normal and I turned to view at the scoreboard, as well as the time. We only needed to score two points and with only ten seconds remaining.

Looking back at the two, I sarcastically commented to them. "Ten seconds ago? Thanks for telling me...doc." Marvin stepped up and said, "I hate to be the bearer bad news, your songstress, but if your team doesn't find a fifth player, you and your team will forfeit the game."

_'What? Forfeit? No way! We're too close and we've come so far!'_

I took a quick glance over at Hale, who was nursing a harsh headache with a pack of ice. Seeing no one else physically able to play, I looked back at Marvin. "Forfeit?"

He nodded sadly, "Precisely, Lady Siren." I sighed bitterly and gave him a confident and reassuring look. "Don't worry, we'll find someone."

And as though I received the answer to my prayer, someone sang out a fanfare, "DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DA-DAAAAH!" The Tunes and I turned our attention and it was a celebrity; one whom Hale and I are respectable fans of, as well as one of our favorite singers of our time!


	21. Ch 21 The Game Finale: Victory At Last!

**Well, I have Chapter 21 here for you all! The end of this story is almost near! But hey, I'll make a sequel to this, so do not fret one bit! :3**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

All of us turned our eyes to who just made their entrance, and there at the doorway to our lockers stood Eminem in his white MC glory! I felt like screaming like a frantic and giddy fan girl, but I remained calm and collected.

Everyone erupted with loud cheers and screams of excitement. Swackhammer got up from his seat, taken completely aback from the white rapper's entrance. "Whoa, whoa, whoa! I didn't know Dr. Dre was in this fanfiction!"

Eminem was wearing the Tune Squad uniform and walked over to us with a sly grin. "You guys need some help?"

I pointed out with glee written all over my face, "That's our fifth player!" He ran up with us and I started giving out the introductions. I really couldn't believe that one of mine and my brother's favorite singers is actually here and talking to me in person!

I looked at everyone and gave them the lay down. "Okay, we need to score two points; we have 76 and the Monstars have 77."

Eminem nodded his head in understanding. "Okay, here's how I see it: Duck, you get the ball and throw it to the girl bunny. Then, you dish it out back to the guy bunny. You swing it around to miss melody over here, and you go to the hole and dominate!"

I looked at him with amazement, but had to burst his bubble. "That sounds like a good plan, but there's the rub: we're playing on defense!"

The Tunes moaned at the situation and Eminem gave a small laugh and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry, I'm not familiar with offense or defense. Okay, you guys have to listen to Kari on this one."

I then thought of a plan and gathered everyone closer so they could get wind of what's going on. "Alright, here's the deal: someone has to steal the ball, give it to me, and I'll score before the timer runs out."

Eminem nodded with satisfaction and wonderment. "Got it. Now, don't lose that tactic and confidence. Alright, paws, hands, and wings in here! Let's go!" They placed their hands on top of his and mine, gave it a shake, and got to their positions.

* * *

**Third Person POV:**

Eminem walked over to his position said to himself, "This is why I'm here. I'm up for any challenge. I was born to fight."

Daffy then tugged on his shorts to get his attention. "Pardon me. Mr. Eminem, something's been really bugging me. Just how _did_ you get here anyway?"

Glancing at the MC expectantly, Eminem merely shrugged. "The authoress is a fan of mine and wanted me to take a part in this story of hers. Pretty awesome chick, too." Pound looked over his shoulder as he listened to the conversation and shook his head in disgust, walking to the other side to get into his position.

Daffy looked at Eminem and said, "Uh-huh. Oh, that's how it goes." Eminem switched his attention to Pound, who was smirking and making faces at Lola. He turned back to Daffy with a clever grin. "Hey, do you see that chunky guy over there?" He bend down and whispered into Daffy's ear and told him his marvelous idea.

Daffy nodded, an evil grin spreading across his face. "Yeah, yeah. Ooh, I can do that! Ooh, that's good! Yes!"

Eminem got to his position and said, "Let's do this! You da duck!"

Bupkus strutted to the court and received the ball from Marvin. The small referee said, "Now, let's all play fair. Here..." but was cut off abruptly when Bupkus elbowed him. Eminem taunted, "C'mon, aliens! This rapper's waiting for ya! I'm not afraid!"

Kari almost squealed in sheer happiness at the rapper's taunts.

_'That is like his song that he sung! Oh my goodness, this is too good to be true! Aiiee!',_she thought to herself, trying to maintain her inner fan girl. Hale seemed to be doing just the same as he pursed his lips together, his headache slightly subsiding.

Daffy placed a football helmet on his head and muttered to himself, feeling completely energized and ready to go. "It's gut-check time!"

Bupkus threw the ball to Pound, and Daffy charged at Pound flying right into his gut.

The giant orange alien was knocked off his feet and dropped the ball. Eminem darted over and took a hold of the ball, smirking at the Monstar leader. "I think that's mine." He dribbled the ball around the court, motioning for Kari to prepare herself. He shouted, "I'm going this way! Wait, no I'm not!" He quickly tossed the ball to Kari.

Pound regained composure and ran after Eminem.

The white MC yelled over his shoulder. "Don't ever trust an earthling, son!" Kari caught the ball, and Nawt and Bupkus went after her. Nawt blocked Kari, this time not allowing her any space. However, she managed to bypass him and tossed the ball over to Lola. Lola dribbled the ball, then Blanko and Bang surrounded her on either of her sides.

Blanko shouted, "Get the rabbit!"

Bang snarled, "Get the girl!

Just as they were about to steal the ball from her, Daffy shouted with his arms waving about. "C'mon, I'm open!"

Lola saw this and threw the ball to Daffy, but the mallard got backhanded by Bupkus. He growled with vengeance. "That's mine!" He was about to catch the ball, but Bugs caught it with his ears and threw it towards Eminem. "Not today!"

Eminem caught the ball and Blanko smirked, making his way towards the rapper. "Bring it on, dude!" Eminem cunningly extended his leg and tripped the tall blue player.

Eminem shook his head. "Sorry, bruh." He ran down and tossed the ball to Kari. Bang ran after her, making her run a bit faster, but soon found herself facing Pound. He began to charge towards her, giving an evil toothy grin. "You're mine!"

He was about to grab her, but tripped over, allowing Kari to step over and onto his head. Thinking quickly, Kari jumped off his head and bounced right off his butt, sending her flying towards the basket.

* * *

**Normal POV:**

Everything was in slow motion like before as I made the jump.

I felt the adrenaline flowing through me as I felt like Michael Jordan flying into the air. I didn't even hear Eminem shouting that he was open. All my focus was on the hoop and getting the ball in there. The hoop was getting closer and within my reach, until Bupkus and Bang jumped up and grabbed on to my legs and my waist!

They tried to pull me harder to keep me away from shooting. I felt scared and thought that we were going to lose.

Miraculously, I suddenly remembered what Bugs and Daffy said. I'm in Looney Tune Land; I could do anything here!

I stretched out my arm and saw that it became really long like a noodle. As soon as I got it close to the hoop, I prepared myself to dunk the ball.

_'Game over, Swackhammer! We win!'_

I slam dunked the ball into the hoop and the time buzzed.

I held on to the hoop and made a flip, landing on my feet on the court floor. I suddenly heard everyone in the stadium erupt with loud cheers.

Looking over at the scoreboard, it read that the Tunes have 78 and the Monstars have 77. We did it! We actually won!

I turned around and ran over towards my teammates and Hale with open arms. Hubey hollered happily into the mic. "THE TUNES WIN!"

Everyone boomed loudly with cheers and whistles. Hale and I slapped some high fives, and the entire team bombarded me with hugs.

Eminem patted my shoulder and smiled at me. "Good game, girl! You did awesome out there, and I got to tell ya, you were like a pro!" I grinned brightly at his comment. "You did a great job too, Em! You could qualify to play for the NBA aside from being a rapper!"

He shook his head, chuckling gently. "Wish I could, but I can't. Rappin' has got me too busy and besides, I got my family and fans to take care of. Thanks though!"

I nodded in understanding, still happy that he helped us to win. Before he left, he had a picture and a Sharpie marker. He quickly wrote something on it and handed it to me. I took a look and it was a photo of him from one of his latest concerts, with something written on it. "To Kari and Hale, with lots of admiration and pride. Keep on playin' and dreamin'! - Eminem"

I looked up at him with childish happiness dancing in my eyes. "Thank you so much!" He nodded. "You are most welcome. Well, catch ya later!" With that said, he made his exit out of the court and was gone.

I squealed and ran over to Hale, showing him the picture and autograph. "Hale! Isn't this awesome? He gave us his picture and signed it! Him! Eminem!"

He laughed and nodded. "I know, Kari. I was there. I can't believe it was him either! Whoa..." He placed his hand on his forehead. I tilted my head at him in concern. "Does it still hurt?"

He shook his head, still smiling. "Nah, the pain is gone. Witch Hazel gave me something for it. Speaking of which, she says she'll need to see you. Somethin' about your necklace.."

Giving him a confused, I was about to ask him until we both winced at a loud voice booming from the other side. We both switched our eyes over to where the screaming was coming from and saw Swackhammer berating the Monstars again, with more fury than before.

We walked over to the center of the court and saw Swackhammer got at their throats.

He yelled and seethed with his cigar still in his mouth. "Losers!"

"Sorry." the Monstars responded.

"Choke artists!" Swackhammer yelled.

"Sorry again." the Monstars answered.

Swackhammer growled angrily at them. "Wait till I get you back on Moron Mountain!" Furious, he stomped on Bupkus's foot causing the purple alien to howl in pain at his aching foot.

_'What a jerk! This guy needs to be taught a lesson... and he will.' _

Swackhammer turned to face us and yelled at me. "Alright, the party's over! Get in the space ship!" Grinning mentally at the idea I had formulated, I looked up at the Monstars. "Why do you take it from this guy? What power does he really have over you?" Hale raised his brow at my question, then understood what I meant and smirked up at them, as though hinting them further.

Bupkus answered in a scared tone, "Because he's bigger!"

Pound quivered, "He's bigger..." and Bang finished, "Than we used to be." The Monstars got the hint and turned their attention towards Swackhammer and growled, "Wait a minute!"

They now realized that they are no longer as small as they used to be, thus making Swackhammer the tiny one now.

Swackhammer noticed the knowing glint in their eyes, and began to panic. "What are you doing?"

The Monstars advanced on Swackhammer and grabbed him, dragging him down the court.

Bupkus growled, "C'mere you..." Bupkus, Bang, and Nawt dragged Swackhammer to the center of the court. I could tell Nawt was enjoying this the most, as he gave me a more than thankful grin and looked back at Swackhammer with a sinister smile.

This started to freak him out and yell, "Hey, what are you doing? Let go!" Hale and I watched the whole thing and laughed with satisfaction. It does seem that the Monstars weren't the bad guys after all. Nope. It was Swackhammer who caused all this mayhem and suffering, and was now getting his comeuppance at long last.

Not only did the Tunes got their freedom back, but the Monstars got theirs as well, and for them; it was enjoyable and they are savoring every bit of it after a long time of servitude to Swackhammer.

They shoved him and stuffed him into an Acme rocket, then lit the fuze and blasted him off. He flew up toward the ceiling and crashed through it, sending him back to Moron Mountain. The Monstars waved good-bye and so did me and Hale. Hale made a hilarious face as he flew away and I did too.

The Monstars turned their attention towards the Tunes, Hale, and myself. Pound said, "We're very sorry for what we did to you, guys. We didn't mean to. Swackhammer forced us to and all..."

Hale cut him off, placing his hands behind his head. "It's cool, man. You didn't have a choice, really. Just don't let anyone push you around like that. They're not worth it." The Monstars smiled a bit and nodded in agreement.

Pound walked over to Hale. "You're pretty tough for a kid, you know that? You whooped me good with that basketball." Hale shrugged. "You were pinning down my sister; I had to. It's my responsibility to look after her." Pound gave him a proud smile. "And you do a pretty good job at it, too. She's lucky to have a brother like you around." I hugged Hale and smiled at Pound. "He knows he does. He's just macho man about it." Hale gave me an embarrassed glance, his face growing about as red as Nawt's skin color.

Bang sighed a bit in defeat. "Other than having nearly both teams beaten and almost brutally killed, could you two forgive us?"

I gave them a sincere look. "We forgive you. We're not the type to hold grudges against anyone for long and like Hale said, you guys didn't mean to behave like jerks. I'm just glad to know that you guys are no longer enslaved by Swackhammer and are just as free as the Tunes are."

Hale agreed. "Yeah, _he_ was the real jerk around here! You guys had it in you all along, didn't ya?"

The Monstars gave us warm smiles and shrugs. Blanko placed his hand in his palm to hide his blush. Bang pointed his chin and rolled his eyes. By his expression, he looked like he almost said, 'Aw, shucks'. Bupkus wiggled his eyebrows and grinned as if he said, 'Yeah, you know we're the good guys'. Pound shrugged and blushed, while Nawt placed his hand near his chin and smiled.

I remembered the deal and said, "One thing though, and I'm sorry to do this. Bugs, pass me the ball." He tossed the ball to me. I looked back up at the Monstars. "You have to give the NBA their talent back." The Monstars almost forgot and Pound sadly asked, "Do we have to?" I nodded my head, feeling sad about it. "Yeah, it's part of the deal. Touch the ball."

"Hold on a minute, doc!" Bugs intervened before they could touch the ball. He whistled over at Witch Hazel, motioning for her to come over. On a trolly, she had a large cauldron, the one she was working on earlier and four cups of something in there. Bugs took two glasses each and gave them over to each Monstar, all except Nawt.

"What's that stuff, Bugs?" Hale raised a brow in curiosity and sniffed at the contents in the cauldron. He stepped back in uncertainty. "Smells funny.."

Bugs looked over at us. "Well, remember the shards of your necklace?" Hale and I nodded our heads, still not understanding what Bugs is getting at.

"Well you see, Witch Hazel, Nawt and I here talked things over and she agreed to make a potion so they can maintain their physical forms, along with their personalities."

The Monstars, Hale, and I nearly boggled our eyes out.

_'No way...'_

"But how?" Hale asked incredulously. Bugs chuckled. "I think it's best if Hazel explains that to ya."

Witch Hazel cackled lightly. "The shards, as you already witnessed, wield magical abilities. The blue shards will maintain their personalities as they are, while the purple ones will maintain their forms."

I felt happy and giddy at this new information. Hale was too, even though he was trying to hide it and failed miserably.

_'So Nawt can remain the same and not have to go back to being small!'_

But Witch Hazel then looked at us with a serious look. "However, they are very scarce. The last remaining crystals that exist are the ones I gave you and your brother, as well as the ones Nawt had in his possession."

I raised my brow. "What do you mean '_had_'?" Nawt nervously stepped in. "I gave my crystals over to Hazel so she could make the potion."

Hale looked into the cauldron again. "So is there enough stuff in there for all of them?"

Witch Hazel, to everyone's dismay, including Nawt's and Bugs', shook her head. Bugs gave her a concerned look. "Eh, how come, doc?"

She looked over at Bugs. "Each pair of crystals makes enough for only two full potions. Meaning, that since I received Hale's crystal shards and Nawt's, there will only be enough for four cups. Four cups, four people, and it has to be an entire cup for the potion to work on one individual."

I glanced down and pulled out my crystals.

_'It takes a pair for it to work, huh?'_

I took off my necklace and approached Witch Hazel with them. "Here, guess I won't be needing this."

I glanced over to Nawt, who stared at me with a surprised and adoring look. "Nawt needs this more than I do."

She nodded and took the crystals, took them off from the wire and crushed them into powder; spreading the remnants into the cauldron. After a good minute or so, the potion was done. "We're lucky! Your crystals were enough to make one potion! Guess they were small enough to amount to only one."

Carefully, she poured the potion into a spare cup until it filled the brim. Hale and Bugs gave each of the Monstars a full cup of the potion, the awkward smell wafting into their noses.

Giving us a look, the Monstars looked down at their portion of potion and shrugged. "Bottoms up!", Pound grunted, taking his serving down in one gulp. The others soon copied his action and downed their drinks. Soon, their bodies started to glow with an aura like mixture of blue and purple, then the glow faded into their bodies completely.

"So, is that gonna be permanent?" Hale asked Witch Hazel in wonderment. She nodded. "Yep! The crystals powers have been fully absorbed into their bodies and have permanently made the changes needed in their bodies for them to remain in those forms, physically and mentally."

I smiled at knowing that they can now remain tall and just as they are, even if they will no longer have the basketball talents of the NBA.

"Okay, so now they can touch the ball?" I lifted the ball up. Bugs and Witch Hazel nodded their heads. "Touch away!" Hale placed his hand on my shoulder and nodded in assurance. I looked back at them and lifted the ball up to the Monstars.

They exchanged glances and turned their attention towards the ball. Bupkus placed his hand first and sighed, "Oh, okay..." Bang placed his hand, then Blanko placed his. When he placed his hand on the ball, he pouted a doggy pout and sighed. "Fair is fair." Pound placed his hand and Nawt was the last person to place his hand. He gave me a nervous look and seemed unsure. I nodded my head, trying not to let my voice break. "It's okay, Nawt. Just touch it. You'll be okay." He touched the ball underneath, and then the ball began to sparkle. The Monstars started to shake, but soon came to a halt with their shaking and the ball glowing brightly. The abilities of the NBA were now safe inside the glowing basketball.

As promised, the Monstars were still the same in their physique. All of them were maybe a few inches shorter, except Nawt, who instead was a few inches taller, reaching up to the others' shoulders or so.

Bupkus glanced down at himself then at the others. "Hey, it worked! The potion worked!" Bang looked like he was gonna cry.. again. Blanko smiled happily, content with the fact that he wasn't back to being small like he used to be. Pound was also happy with the results and looked like he wanted to hug Witch Hazel, but refrained from doing so.

Nawt looked down at me with the most grateful look I had ever seen him give me in a while. He smiled adoringly at me, making those butterflies in my stomach to appear again.

From what I can see, Nawt was about 5'10, while the other were obviously 6 foot and over.

Pound suddenly cleared his throat and approached Bugs. "Could we ask you a favor, Bugs? We don't wanna go back to Moron Mountain."

Bang added, "We hate it up there." Nawt gave a thumbs down with his left hand as he was holding my hand with the other. "It stinks."

Blanko looked in thought about the house that he and the guys found and were staying at. "Um, I was thinking...like, could we stay here with you?" The Monstars gave puppy dog eyes. "PLEASE?"

I felt like laughing as Nawt made puppy dog eyes at them, then looked at me when he heard me laugh and winked. Hale shook his head along with Daffy, who groaned with irritation. "Oh, brother..." Bugs shrugged, "Eh, I don't know if you guys are Looney enough." Bang's eyes nearly popped out of his head and he shrieked, "LOONEY ENOUGH?"

They all dressed as the Looney Tunes and jumped on top of one another, making a pyramid like a squad of cheerleaders, with Nawt at the very top. Then Nawt made a dive and the other caught him and they posed like a bunch of cheerleaders with pompoms that came out of nowhere.

Hale and I could help but laugh so hard at the ridiculous display, and the audience followed after with their own merry laughs as well.

Bugs chuckled along with Lola. "Alright, alright! You guys can stay. Just put away them poms. We don't wanna attract a huge crowd over here."

The Monstars cheered with joy, finally able to stay in a place where they can be happy and with no worries or evil bosses around.

Hale and I were happy for them. I looked over at Nawt as he walked over to my direction, smiling brightly like no other.


	22. Ch 22 This isn't Good Bye

**At last... this is the final chapter for 'Revisioned'. I give a huge round of applause to those who stood by this story and supported it with all their hearts! As a reward and surprise, I am going to write a sequel to this story, so don't even think that I'm done with this! :)**

**I only own the Rodgers Family. I don't own anything else, and I don't own the song that I will be using for Kari's performance. First one to get the name and singer of this song right will get a sneak peak at the upcoming sequel! It's easy, so it shouldn't be a problem, especially if you're into video games. Now, enjoy this lovely finale, with lots of love!**

* * *

The Tunes and The Monstars were celebrating and enjoying their now hard earned freedom. I had to give it to them, they put up one heck of a fight, and even more ironic that everyone was aiming for the same goal: freedom.

I motioned to Hale. "Hey, why don't we go and join them? We deserve to celebrate just as much as they do!"

Hale nodded, but then looked as if he just remembered something. "Wait! We can't! The talent show!"

My eyes grew wide in surprise and alarm. "You're right! Oh, I completely forgot!"

Bugs, the Tunes and the Monstars walked on over to us with concern. "What's wrong, Kari?" Nawt asked with worry.

I glanced over at him. "The talent show! We completely forgot about it!" Hale glanced around for a clock, but to no avail. "Hey, does anyone know what time it is?"

Porky stuttered looking down at his watch for reference. "I-it's a, uh it's a q-quar, uh, fifteen past seven." I looked up at Hale with complete alarm. "We only have fifteen minutes until the show starts. We have to be there on time if we're gonna be allowed to perform!"

Hale nodded. "Bugs, can we rush into the locker rooms really quick and change into our clothes?"

Bugs nodded. "Eh, sure thing, doc! Lola, can you take Kari with ya?" Lola nodded her head. "Sure!"

I went with Lola as we rushed into the girls locker room. Witch Hazel blew some nice smelling powder at me, making my body smell like ocean spray. "Saves the trouble of a shower, dearie.", she cackled lightly. I thanked her and dressed into my clothes that I wore earlier.

When I was done, Lola, Witch Hazel, Granny and I got out and met with the Tunes, the Monstars, and my brother outside. Hale was dressed in his earlier garments as well and looked ready to go.

"Okay, so how are we gonna get there?" I asked with confusion. Nawt smiled brightly, apparently he and the rest of the gang figured a solution to that dilemma. "No problem. We can take our ship and fly over there."

Hale raised a brow. "But will there be enough room for all of us?" I turned around to make count for who's going aside from the five Monstars. There's Bugs, Lola, Daffy, Porky, Elmer, Tweety, Sylvester, Taz, Foghorn, Yosemite, Witch Hazel, Granny, Pepe, Roadrunner, and Wile. In total, that makes the twenty invites we asked to get. "I got the fifteen tickets right here, doc." Bugs waved around the tickets that is for him and the other Tunes. Pound was holding his ticket, along with the other four for the rest of his buddies.

The door to the space ship opened and Bupkus came out with smirk. "All's ready for take off!" Hale walked up to him. "Yeah, but is there enough room?" Bang nodded. "Yeah, it's like a plane in here. There are lots of seats in his baby! So don't worry so much!"

I shook my head at his comment. "Good luck telling him that. He'll never quit worrying." Hale shot me a look and I stuck my tongue out at him.

"Well, let's get going! Can't be late for your show now, can we?" Daffy said, already making his way into the ship.

Bugs walked up to me and hale as the Tunes boarded on the ship. "Eh, mind if we record this on video for the others that couldn't make the cut?" He held up a video recorder with a carrot charm hanging off of it.

Hale and I nodded with overwhelming joy. "Sure!" He smiled a wide and toothy smile. The three of us boarded the plane, allowing the Monstars to then board last and start the ship.

Nawt sat next to me on the outside isle while Hale sat on the other side of me by a window. The interior of the ship was very much like that of an airplane. The Tunes were all accommodated in their seats of their liking.

Pound was at the front, reading the directions on how to get to our community theater (given to him by Hale, who wrote the directions down while they were waiting for me to emerge from the locker room). Bupkus insisted on driving, and Bang and Blanko sat among us and the Tunes.

Suddenly we heard Bupkus' voice on the intercom as he spoke like a flight attendant before lift off. "Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for boarding Air Monstars. We must please ask you to fasten your seat belts before taking off and help your neighbor with any difficulties she or he may have. In case of emergency, we must ask you to be patient and push the button above you and one of our attendants will assist you momentarily." Everyone looked to the front as Blanko and Bang waved their hands in the air with grins on their faces. "Other than that, thanks again and enjoy the flight towards the community theater."

Everyone let out a loud cheer as the ship started up, letting us know that we were ready to be on our way. I held on to Nawt's hand and he squeezed gently back.

_'…Now let's just hope Hale and I don't lose our lunches this time either.'_

In less than five minutes, we finally arrived at the community theater in the back lot, where Mr. Folles said he would be waiting for us. To our relief, he was standing by the entrance.

As soon as Bupkus parked the ship, he pressed a button to make it look like a fancy jet from the outside. As soon as everyone got out, Mr. Folles approached us, along with mom and dad in tow. Mom and dad's mouths were wide open in shock and bewilderment. Mr. Folles rubbed his eyes just to be sure he wasn't dreaming.

"Eh, don't worry, doc. We're real enough." Bugs chuckled, holding on to Lola's hand. Mr. Folles took a moment before he was able to clear his throat.

"Well, um, do you have your tickets handy?" he asked nervously. Bugs grinned and handed the tickets over. "Here ya go, doc! Fifteen tickets for the fifteen of us Tunes."

Mr. Folles took the tickets and counted them then counted the Tunes. After matching the number of tickets with the number of guests, he nodded. Pound walked up with the other Monstars and hand him their tickets as well. "Don't forget about us!" Bupkus chimed in. Their tickets and the amount per head were also accounted for.

"Alright. Kari, Hale, I got your parents already accounted for as well. You two may hurry in and make sure you have your stuff all set."

We nodded our heads and turned to the rest of the group, who were cheering and rooting on for us. "We'll see ya inside, you two. Now go in there and get yourselves ready!" Bugs said to the both of us.

Hale and I gave him large bright smiles and raced into the back of the theater.

"Do you think they'll like our performance?" Hale glanced at me with a slightly nervous look. I grinned at him; not a single wrinkle of worry visible on my face.

"They won't _like_ it, Hale... They'll _LOVE_ it! Now let's get ourselves all set to kick some talent competition boot-ay!"

He laughed lightly for the first time all day as we rushed into the maintenance room, where our equipment was just begging to be tried one last time before show time.

* * *

**Third Person POV:**

Making their way down the hall following Mr. Folles, Kari and Hale's parents, along with the Tunes and Monstars were excited and busy buzzing about what the kids' possible performance was going to be.

"So what exactly are your kids gonna do for the show?" Bugs asked Mrs. Rodgers.

She smiled sheepishly, but tilted her head in confusion. "I wish I knew! They never told us what they were going to do for their performance."

"I heard they were gonna sing." Daffy interjected. Mr. Rodgers looked at the mallard bewildered.

"Well, I knew Kari was taking some form of singing classes, but if their going to sing, then that's the first! I never even heard my own daughter sing."

"So, let us get this straight: you two have no idea what your kids are going to do for the show?", Pound asked completely taken aback that the parents have no idea what their children will be doing for their part of the show.

Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers both nodded their heads in unison, a look of embarrassment etched on their features. Mr. Folles couldn't help but shake his head and stifle a chuckle in amusement. Nawt caught on to that and raised a brow. "What's so funny?"

Mr. Folles glanced over at him. "Kari and Hale wanted to surprise their parents. It seems like those two did a good job at keeping a tight lid on what they are going to do for their performance."

Nawt remembered what Kari told him, that only her brother knows of her singing skills, as well as him now. He smiled at the thought of how their parents will react when they hear their own daughter and son performing together on the stage.

In truth, he was very excited himself. He couldn't wait to hear his precious Kari sing a song; a song that was especially for him.

He wondered just what song though it was going to be. But just like the gift he gave to her, he too will have to wait to see his gift from her, or in this case, _hear it._

They all made it to a special part of the stage, which were actually front row reserved seats, making it easier for them to see who will perform. The audience gasped and cheered as they saw the Tunes walk in behind Mr. Folles, as well as the Monstars and the Rodgers adults.

Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers took their seats, followed by the Monstars in the following order: Nawt next to Mrs. Rodgers, Bupkus, Blanko, Bang, and Pound. Then the Tunes too their own seat as well from where Pound left off. They sat in the order they felt more comfortable with, content and honored that they got front row as the kids' token of appreciation for coming to see them.

Mr. Folles left them to go and begin announcing for the upcoming talent contestants. First was a girl named Susan, who twirled batons with a third one in her mouth, a boy named Charles, who juggled up to ten different items for a good whole minute, and so on.

After what seemed like a long good hour or so, there was only one act remaining, and that was Kari's and Hale's.

".. And now, the moment you all have been waiting for, our final act for the night! This act will take not one, but two marvelous young siblings; two who are like one in mind and heart. They have been through many battles together and somehow they always manage to get on top every time. I have seen them practice and try, and no matter how many times they fall, these two keep on coming back with more confidence and motivation than ever before! Ladies and gentlemen, I would like to give you, my prized students as well as the ones who have helped me in setting up this entire show: Hikari and Hale Rodgers!" Mr. Folles announced, his eyes almost brimming with tears of pride for his two young pupils.

He soon quickly left the stage to handle his part in helping the kids, while the crowd cheered and whistled. Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers clapped and whooped. The Monstars were whistling and whooping left to right with enthusiasm and the Tunes just the same.

Behind the curtain, Kari and Hale took one last glance at one another, their pulse racing and their eyes twinkling with an energy that was never there before, except during the final part of the game when they won. "Ready, sis?", Hale whispered, grinning proudly at his younger sister.

Kari smiled back with a bright glow about her. "Ready, bro."

The music started and Kari, at the same time, started to sing.

"_When you walk away_

_You don't hear me say please_

_Oh baby, don't go_

_Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight_

_It's hard to let it go"_

Silence came, but quickly diminished as Hale strummed his guitar, the music starting up again slowly.

"_You're giving me too many things_

_Lately, you're all I need_

_You smiled at me and said,_

_Don't get me wrong I love you_

_But does that mean I have to meet your father?_

_When we are older you'll understand_

_What I meant when I said 'No,_

_I don't think life is quite that simple'_

_When you walk away_

_You don't hear me say please_

_Oh baby, don't go_

_Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight_

_It's hard to let it go_

_Simple and clean..._

_The daily things that keep us all busy_

_Are confusing me_

_That's when you came to me and said,_

_Wish I could prove I love you_

_But does that mean I have to walk on water?_

_When we are older you'll understand_

_It's enough when I say so_

_And maybe some things are that simple_

_When you walk away_

_You don't hear me say please_

_Oh baby, don't go_

_Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight_

_It's hard to let it go_

_Hold me_

_Whatever lies beyond this morning_

_Is a little later on_

_Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all_

_Nothing's like before_

_When you walk away_

_You don't hear me say please_

_Oh baby, don't go_

_Simple and clean is the way that you're making me feel tonight_

_It's hard to let it go_

_Hold me_

_Whatever lies beyond this morning_

_Is a little later on_

_Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all_

_Nothing's like before_

_Hold me_

_Whatever lies beyond this morning_

_Is a little later on_

_Regardless of warnings the future doesn't scare me at all_

_Nothing's like before"_

Hale strummed in tune, slowly making it easier for the song to finish. The rest of the music flowed easily in tune as Kari vocalized. After a half minute, the song came to an end. Once the song finished, the entire theater erupted with cheers and applause!

Mr. and Mrs. Rodgers were clapping like mad, tears streaming down the mother's happy face and the father holding his in, a proud smile gracing his face.

The Tunes were whistling and applauding like crazy. Bugs and Lola held each others hand as they gave our their cheers. "Way to go! You kids were amazing! Just brilliant!"

The Monstars were just the same, applauding and hooting and cheering. Bang was just sobbing, stuttering about how beautiful the song was. Blanko patted his back while cheering the kids for their wonderful performance.

Pound look completely taken by surprise and was clapping like an overjoyed child. Bupkus clapped and hooted. He lowered down and whispered to Nawt, not looking at his face. "I didn't know she could sing _that_ well! She's one of a kind, that girl!"

Nawt applauded, pride and happiness swelling inside his heart. He smiled brightly at Kari, meeting her gaze. She smiled back at him with overwhelming joy. She mouthed the words to him, and only he saw what she was saying.

'I hope you like your gift.'

Nawt nodded his head, still clapping. His eyes were slightly wet, and his smile never faltering as he mouthed back.

'I _loved_ it.'

* * *

After they left center stage and went behind the curtain, Hale placed down his guitar and ran over to his sister, embracing her with pure contentment. "Kari! You were amazing out there! We did it! It was even better than I imagined!"

Kari embraced him back with equal force and joy. "I know, Hale! I couldn't believe it! We totally blew the audience's minds away!"

At long last, they heard Mr. Folles as he walked up to them. "Congratulations, you two! You were both phenomenal! Everyone is already casting votes for the best performance."

Hale grinned up at the middle aged man. "We couldn't have done it without you, Mr. Folles. Thanks for helping us." He smiled and nodded, then left to go on to center stage and receive the final outcome. Kari and Hale exchanged nervous glances and held each others hands.

"Remember Kari, win or lose, we did our best." She looked at her brother right in the eye and nodded. "Yeah."

Finally, the final count was made and one of the assistants walked up and gave Mr. Folles a sealed envelope and a large three foot trophy, decorated with a golden Roman design and a figure of an eagle on top. "Here are the final results, folks! The winner is..."

He opened the envelope. "Oh my, two winners! Hikari and Hale Rodgers!" The entire place erupted once more with a roar of applause and cheers. Hale and Kari looked at one another with the same shocked look. "We won!" Hale cried. Kari couldn't believe her ears. They actually won!

The two children walked out into the center stage and claimed their trophy. Flashes from photography came from the crowd and especially from the front row. The two sibling smiled from ear to ear, the night going all more than what they expected. This was a wonderful way to celebrate the achievements that they have made all through the course of one day.

* * *

Everyone was in the back lot, giving pats on the back to the two kids. Their parents smothering them with hugs and kisses. Mr. Folles gave them one last comment of kudos before taking his leave. Placing the trophy in the car, Mr. Rodgers then got in the car and started up the engine. "We have to go home now, kids.", Mrs. Rodgers told her two children. Kari and Hale nodded, but asked for an extra ten minutes so they could bid their friends good bye. Their mother nodded in understanding, knowing that this part was going to be hard for them, for _all_ of them.

Kari and Hale turned back to their friends, who were all wearing happy, yet sad faces. "We're gonna miss you, Bugs!" Kari cried out, hugging the gray hare. He gently hugged the young girl back. "You can always come back and visit us, Kari. We're never far."

Hale tried to hold in his own tears, not wanting to accept the fact that they have to say good bye. "But school will start soon. Plus, we don't have our necklaces anymore."

Daffy patted the boy on the shoulder. "There are other ways to find us. You just gotta keep a sharp eye out!" Hale hugged the black mallard, who was taken aback from the kind gesture but returned it anyways, not wanting to cry himself. 'I'm gonna miss these kids..', the duck thought to himself, which surprised him a bit.

Hale and Kari then turned to the Monstars once they finished bidding their farewells to the Tunes. Pound walked over and grabbed both of them, lifting the two kids up in a bear hug. "We'll see you two real soon. You can count on it!" He placed them back down on the ground, turning away as he wiped a stray tear away.

Bang, for once, stopped his sobbing and hugged the two. "You two kids are the best! I'm glad we met you!" He put them down as well before commencing his salty waterfall tirade.

Blanko shook his head. "Don't worry about him. He'll get over it." Bang cried over his shoulder "NO, I WON'T!"

The blue alien shook his head again. "Like Pound said, we'll see each other again sooner than you think. Just have faith." He rubbed both of them on the top of their heads. They took Blanko's words to heart, knowing that they were true in and of themselves.

Bupkus bent down and embraced the kids. "Take care of baby sis, got it?" Hale nodded, his eyes growing wet. "Good job today, girlie. Keep it up and make sure your brother doesn't get into any trouble." Kari nodded, giving a hug to Bupkus.

Finally, Nawt walked up and shook Hale's hand. Hale shook it back, still trying to hold back the burning tears. Unable to hold it anymore, Hale let go and waved good bye one last time before jumping in the car, breaking down inside it.

Kari walked up, looking at Nawt with a sad look in her eyes. Warm tears were streaming down her pink cheeks. Nawt smiled gently and wiped the tears away. "Don't cry, sweetheart." Those same words he told her when she was holding him in her arms. She broke down and jumped up to him, embracing him. "I'm gonna miss you, Nawt!" Nawt held her close, taking in her natural flowery scent. He stroked her shuddering back and whispered. "This isn't goodbye, Kari. Before long, we'll be seeing each other again, and when we do, I promise you I always remain by your side."

She pulled back, hiccuping and sniffing. "Y-you promise?" Nawt smiled warmly at her. "I swear my life on it. We will meet again, sooner than you think, and when that day comes, I'm never leaving you. Ever."

Trusting his word, she nodded her head. He gently kissed her forehead and brushed the stray tears away. They waved one final goodbye, and into the ship they went. The lights of the engine starting up, the giant aircraft lifted up into the air, and in a matter of seconds was gone.

* * *

Kari and Hale soon arrived to the house, tired and sore, especially from all the crying. Hale walked up to his bedroom, grabbing his pajamas and making his way to his shower.

Kari followed soon after and grabbed her pajamas, wanting to clean herself also. After a good five minutes, she stepped out all fresh and clean. Knowing her parents are fast asleep, she walked over to her vanity, the rose in full bloom. She smiled as she gently stroked the rose, silent tears escaping from her hazel eyes. Turning around, she looked at her night table.

Realization settled in, remembering the gift that Nawt gave her. She rushed to the drawer and opened it. She pulled out the box, leaving the note that was with it in the drawer.

She gazed at the red box and tugged gently at the pink ribbon. It fell silently into the drawer, and she lifted the lid off of the red box. She gasped at what was in the box.

From inside the box, she pulled out a professionally handmade gold bracelet, with a circular, transparent lens that was made from an aqua colored ore of the sort. Inside the lens was an engraving of a fully bloomed rose blossom. She smiled and continued to analyze the beautiful piece of jewelry. What made her heart leap with the most happiness and tears of pure joy was what was engraved on the underside on the bracelet where the lens was on.

Hale called out from his room, now done with his shower. "Hey Kari, I'm going to bed now. You okay?"

She nodded, not paying much attention to her brother. "Yeah, I'm okay." He asked from standing by his doorway. "Do you think we'll see them again?"

Kari nodded, not once turning towards the direction of where her brother was. "Yeah, most definitely."

"You seem so sure. Heh. Well, if you say we will, then.. I have no reason to doubt either." He shut his door, letting her know that he was turning in.

"_I know we will."_

On the inside of the bracelet on the underside of the lens plate, was in small cursive lettering: "_Forever Together: Kari & Nawt_".

* * *

**Present Time:**

_That's the whole story. Well, how it started. Told you it was crazy. Still don't believe me? Well then, you're just gonna have to see what happens now. But that's another story. Later! Hale and I are late for high school._

"Kari! Hurry up! We're gonna be late!" Hale hollered from downstairs.

"Coming, Hale!" Snapping on the bracelet with the engraved rose, I closed my diary and grabbed my backpack. I ran down the stairs and joined up with Hale, and the both of us headed out the door. I'm Hikari Rodgers and I'm now sixteen years old. My brother Hale is now eighteen, and we're late for class.

"So.. wanna try again this afternoon?" Hale asked me. I nodded and smiled brightly. "Yeah."

We're gonna try to find our way back to Looney Tune Land.


End file.
